- 9.
After I left that day, I talked to the lawyer.
The court had to collect information, and the
hearing was in a month.
I moved out of the house.
I was a housewife for eight years. I knew
every inch of that house.
But when I left, I didn’t feel sad.
Liust felt free
く
If I had realized this sooner, I would have left
six years ago.
I didn’t have anything to pack. I just took
Dad’s things.
Everything else was a gift from Greg, so I left
it in the house.
I was far away when Greg called.
“You moved out?”
I was surprised he noticed.
The only thing I took was the wedding gift
from Dad.
It was a wooden carving of a pine tree that
was in the hallway.
Г
He always put his hat and scarf on it when he
came home.
I thought he didn’t care about it anymore.
“Yeah,” I said.
I couldn’t hear him. I thought he had hung up.
Then Greg spoke, his voice hoarse.
“Come back. I didn’t mean what I said.”
His voice was so quiet, almost begging.
He just called me worthless a few hours ago,
and now he was being nice to me?
“Me filing for divorce is exactly what you
く
wanted, right? Why would you want me
back?”
“No… me and Brittany aren’t like that.” Greg
said, explaining with those same words over
and over, not being able to say anything else.
“Greg, I know what you’re doing.”
“You look down on me, but you’re afraid to be
with Brittany, because you’re afraid she’ll hurt
you again.”
“So you keep me around, but you don’t give
me any attention, because I love you.”
“But Greg, I’m human. I’m not something you
can use when you need it.”
“Stop pretending that you’re trying to save
<
this marriage. I don’t want to play house with
you anymore.”
“And even if I could, would Brittany be okay
with it?”
“Go look at the security cameras. See how
much Brittany wants to be your wife.”
“Don’t disappoint her.”
I hung up before Greg could answer.
I took out the SIM card and threw it in the
trash.
They can do whatever they want. It has
nothing to do with me.
