“I’m leaving…”
I didn’t want to wait around for him anymore.
“I’m just gonna get a ride from my coworker.”
I hung up the phone.
Liam called me a bunch of times. I turned off
the ringer.
A few minutes later, Liam texted. “I’m
outside. Where are you?”
I was in my coworker’s car. I ignored the
message.
8
I took out the divorce papers again.
く
I sat on the couch and waited for Liam.
Liam was happy to see me. “Claire!”
He stopped when he saw the papers.
“It’s been long enough. You should sign
them.”
He was sad. “Do you want to do this?”
He hugged me and said, “I don’t want a
divorce! I’ll break up with Chloe right now!”
I pulled away. “You knew what you were
doing.”
He grabbed me and put his head against
mine. “I’ll be better.”
Г
“There are other problems. And I’m moving to
LA.”
He tore up the divorce papers.
I watched him, unmoved.
I wasn’t the one acting crazy.
“We’re not good for each other. And I have to
move to LA.”
He looked at me. “To LA? For how long?”
“It’s permanent.”
“I can go with you! I can do business there.”
“Stop lying to yourself,” I said.
Г
“Let’s get a divorce,” I said.
9
After the divorce, I joined the company in LA.
The apartment was near a subway station.
The first day of work, I saw Liam downstairs.
I nodded and walked into the station.
Liam followed me.
The train was crowded. Liam held people
back to make room.
He was waiting for me to compliment him.
く
I didn’t say anything. If I complained, he’d
probably do it more.
Liam bought a house near his company. I had
to change trains and walk a lot to get to
work.
I asked him to drive me to work.
He agreed, but he never woke up early
enough.
We never talked about it again.
Now that we were divorced, he was acting
nice.
A coworker saw us at the train station.
く
“Is that your boyfriend?”
I shook my head.
One day, I found out the lightbulb was out.
I had a spare.
As I took it out, Liam called.
“Are you home?”
“Yeah.”
“Why aren’t you turning on the lights?”
“The bulb blew.”
“Wait for me. I’ll go change it.”
く
I said, “I can do it myself.”
He paused. When I was about to hang up, he
said, “Do you know how to do that kind of
thing?”
“Yeah. Who fixed the lights before?”
I was hungry and said, “Gotta go.”
“Okay…”
I replaced the bulb.
Before I went to bed, I got a text. I didn’t see
- it.
