CHAPTER 4 #2
“Yes. And, honestly, I’m not at all jealous because he’s moving on.
I’m the one who asked for the separation and divorce.
It was more about the fact that he got to move on already when I was the one who wanted to.
While he was off becoming a doctor and building his practice, I was the primary caregiver for the kids.
I’m not even sure he knows that Adele hates broccoli or that Archie got a D in Spanish his junior year, so we had to hire a full-time tutor to help him get that grade up during the soccer season, or he would’ve been kicked off the team. ”
“I’m sorry,” Myra said. “I don’t have kids, obviously, but I went through a divorce. It wasn’t exactly the same thing, but it wasn’t fun, either.”
“Your ex didn’t parade women around you, essentially bragging that he’d just slept with them while you were sleeping in the guest house out back?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood, but Myra’s serious expression told Elisa she had made a mistake.
“Actually, she cheated on me. No parade, though.”
Elisa had caught the pronoun in that sentence but tried not to react to it because any reaction would likely be read the wrong way by Myra, so after a few seconds, she nodded.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” she said. “I don’t understand why people get married just to cheat.”
“Me neither,” Myra replied. “I thought things were good. We had a decent life together. I had no idea that she had this other person she was with at least a night or two each week.”
“She wasn’t home?”
“She was when we first got together, but she got a promotion that required her to travel around a lot, so she usually stayed in a hotel here or there. I thought that was what she was doing, at least. I didn’t know that she was sleeping with a co-worker who traveled with her sometimes. Her boss, technically.”
“What?” Elisa asked, sitting up more in her chair.
“Yeah, her married boss who had a husband and three kids of her own at home. They started up one night and just never stopped. They’re still together now.
When I found out, I was in this state of disbelief.
We had both known exactly what we wanted when we met.
We each had careers. Those were important.
I wanted to own my own company one day. Neither of us wanted kids, but if gay marriage ever became legal, we wanted to get married.
We did, and I thought things were good, but she got promoted, met her, and that was it. She stayed with me for some reason.”
“Why didn’t she just–” Elisa stopped herself.
“Leave?” Myra guessed what she had wanted to ask.
“Yeah. ”
“I don’t know. I asked her, but she didn’t really have a reason.
I can guess that it was more because she didn’t know what would happen with them.
They worked together, and one or both of them could’ve gotten fired.
The woman she was with was married, too, and a parent.
There was a chance she wouldn’t have left her husband, so if my ex couldn’t have her full-time, at least she had her part-time and me at home waiting for her, thinking we were still in love. ”
“God, I’m sorry, Myra. I mean, I know my ex-husband cheated on me during our marriage, but I’m not sure I ever really cared about it. At first, it was just a hunch, but–”
“I didn’t even have a hunch,” Myra interjected.
“I was sitting at home, waiting for her to tell me all about her day, and then, it was all just out there that she’s been with someone else for years, and it’s over with us, and she’s telling me she changed her mind and she’s going to be a stepmom now and move to New Jersey for their new life together.
It was all so sudden and not at all at the same time. ”
“I’m sorry,” Elisa repeated. Then, she placed a hand on top of Myra’s own on the table and gave it a squeeze. “I have wine. It’s the expensive kind, too. I took it from the wine rack when I left. He didn’t even notice.” She winked at Myra.
Myra laughed and said, “Another time.”
“You don’t have to keep saying that if you don’t want–”
“No, I do,” Myra interrupted quickly. “I just need to get you the rest of this estimate for the roof and check the schedule to see who I can get out here to do the work. Plus, I owe my friend, Melinda, a new blueprint for some changes to the work she needs done.”
“Are you sure you should be doing this work for me ? You sound very busy, and I wouldn’t mind if you put me off to someone else that you’d recommend.”
“No, it’s fine. I can do it. It won’t take that long.”
Myra went to stand, which meant that her hand had disappeared from Elisa’s.
Elisa looked up at her and said, “Okay. Well, I’ll walk you out. ”
“That’s okay,” Myra replied with a smile. “I know the way home.”
Elisa laughed and said, “I’m sure you do.”
“I’ll send you the estimate to approve, and if it’s okay, I’ll get started after that.”
“Sounds good.”
And it did sound good. Having Myra in her house, doing the work herself, sounded very good because what Elisa hadn’t yet revealed to Myra was the reason she had finally left her husband.
All these years, she had known and had been too scared to admit it.
In college, when they had met, Elisa had known, but one date with Archie Senior had led to another and another, and then, sex, a condom breaking, her not being on birth control long enough yet, and two babies.
Then, a wedding and a marriage. All these years, though, she had known and hadn’t said anything to anyone until she had finally had the courage to tell Gwen.
When Gwen had told her that she needed to be herself to be happy and to leave her own brother, Elisa hadn’t been sure at first, but when she realized that the reasons she had stayed in her marriage were about to go to college and not need her in the same way anymore, she had finally done it.
She had come out to her now ex-husband and her kids.
Now, she was watching Myra walk out of her kitchen, hearing Myra mention her ex- wife over and over again in her head.