I turned to leave, but he grabbed my arm. He fumbled in his pocket, pulling out a jade
bracelet. “Wendy, I know how much you always
wanted my family’s jade bracelet. I brought it. I promise, I’ll make it up to you. A bigger
wedding, I swear. You won’t have to endure
anything like this again. Sarah’s. just sick. When she gets better, I’ll leave her. Just… bear with
- me. For me.”
The bracelet was a joke. He was so lost
between Sarah and me, he didn’t even know me
anymore. I never wanted the bracelet. I wanted
the ring he promised he’d find the one we’d
–
made from candy wrappers in college. Sarah
–
had taken it, burned it, thrown it away – who knew?
The slap stung, but I kept smiling. “And what
about next time? When she has another ‘episode‘? Will you just let her die?”
“It won’t happen again. I won’t let her ruin our
く
11:41
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“Answer the question, Mark.”
“Wendy, why are you being like this? You know
she’s sick!”
“I understand. This is it. Divorce.” I couldn’t
listen anymore. I was afraid my smile would
crack.
He stared at me, incredulous. “Divorce, divorce, divorce! Wendy, I’m trying to give you a way out of this, and all you can say is divorce! I’ve had enough! Let me tell you something: divorce is not happening! Even if you don’t care about the baby, I do! My child will not grow up without a
father!”
The word “baby” twisted a knife in my gut. I turned to leave again, but he was quicker. He
stormed out onto the balcony to smoke.
I knew he was trying to compose himself. The
old me would have fetched him water,
62
<
apologized, and we would have reconciled. Not
anymore.
