Chapter Seven
It only took a few weeks to get everything into place.
I completed the paperwork and signed the retainer for an attorney I hoped could outsmart my husband if he tried to be sneaky, then wrote a check she promised not to cash until the end of the week.
In doing that, she gave me the gift of time.
I just had to tell him I was leaving before he noticed ten grand had disappeared from our account.
Alicia and I had started packing the morning after Mom’s funeral, and she took the boxes with her when she left.
First I packed up my books, excess clothing, and personal items collected over the years.
I didn’t touch anything Robert used or might miss.
As the big day grew closer, I was shocked that he didn’t notice anything awry.
Apparently he didn’t notice anything about me or the house as long as it all appeared clean and pretty.
He never said a word about the vanishing cake pans, mixing bowls, or cookie sheets.
Didn’t comment on the hundreds of novels suddenly nowhere to be seen, or the fact I lost seven pounds by directing my energy toward something that made me feel good instead of eating my feelings late into the night.
According to my attorney, the bank accounts would be divided in the end, as would any retirement or savings. We’d each keep our car, and any other assets were negotiable, so long as the split was equitable. That all seemed fair to me.
I used the local library’s computer to set up a website and social media for the Invisible Baker, then routed payments to my newly established bank account through PayPal.
With a little research and a hundred bucks, I even registered an LLC for the business.
I figured that the money from the division of marital assets would keep me afloat for the next few years as my business grew.
Until then, I had a brain, a talent for baking, and a plan.
I fell asleep each night astonished and hopeful. My freedom was one conversation away. I just had to tell Robert what he didn’t see happening right before his eyes.
When the day came, I sat with my thoughts all evening, awaiting his return from work. My bravery wavered and faded with each passing hour, but it was too late to turn back. My SUV was packed, and my closet was empty.
The garage door opened around seven p.m.
My hands shook as I walked to the kitchen and leaned against the familiar granite countertop for moral and physical support.
The house was still and quiet with only the evening sunlight streaming through the windows and the sound of chirping birds to fill the space.
My phone, normally on the counter in its dock, playing music while I cooked, sat safely in my back pocket.
Robert strode inside, loosening his tie, eyes searching. “Hey,” he said.
“Hi.”
He set his laptop bag on the counter and frowned. “Why’s it so quiet in here? Were you sleeping again? Where’s dinner?” he asked, gaze darting around the room.
I never napped unless I was ill or had a migraine, both typically caused by him, but I didn’t let his gibe distract me. Instead, I filed it away as further proof I’d made the right decision.
“Well?” he prodded when I didn’t respond immediately.
“I didn’t make dinner,” I said. “And the house is quiet because I’m leaving.”
He huffed a dismissive laugh. “Where are you going wearing that? Not the country club, I hope.”
“No, not the club,” I agreed. “I’m going to my mother’s house, where I plan to stay.”
His brow wrinkled with confusion and his lips parted. “What are you talking about?”
I laced the fingers of my shaking hands and willed my voice not to crack.
“I’m leaving you, Robert,” I said. “I’m not making dinner for you, or waiting up for you, or listening to you say unkind, underhanded things to me anymore.
I’ve packed my things and hired an attorney who will file the motion for divorce this week.
After that, you will be served. I left her business card on your desk.
You can share that with whoever you choose to represent you in this matter. ”
He laughed. “You can’t leave me,” he said.
I produced car keys from my pocket as evidence and met his stare.
His lips curled back in disgust. “You don’t have any money,” he said. “You haven’t worked since you married me. How do you expect to live?” A low, thunderous moan lurched from his lips before I could respond with any of my preplanned statements.
“Oh.” He dragged the little word for several syllables. “Right. I see. You plan to take my money. You think you’re going to get your hands on the savings and investments that I created and go set up shop somewhere else on my dime.”
I rolled my eyes and collected my purse.
“I’m done with this and you,” I said as calmly as possible.
“I’m tired of begging for your attention, taking your jabs, being treated as if I am somehow less when I am the one holding your precious lifestyle together.
I lost my mother, and you couldn’t be bothered to come to the funeral or even ask how I’m doing once since then.
You bring nothing good to my life or this relationship, Robert,” I said, sneering his name.
“There’s more to life than money, and you’re about to learn that the hard way. ”
I squared my shoulders and blew past him, feeling invincible. I’d never spoken to him, or anyone, that way. And I liked not being a doormat.
I strode into the garage without another glance in his direction. “Goodbye, Robert. Have fun cooking, cleaning, and managing your own life, for a change.”
I arrived at my mom’s house thirty minutes later. The cocktail of emotions splashing around in my head were of the Molotov variety.
I’d left Robert.
I told him I wanted out.
And I left.
Holy shit!
My open-mouthed smile remained maniacally wide as I pulled onto the gravel drive.
“Yay!” A big voice boomed from the backyard as I parked behind Cameron’s pickup truck.
Alicia moved into view, clapping and whistling. Her husband popped the cork on a bottle of champagne.
I got out of the SUV and went directly to my best friend, who wrapped me in a hug.
“You did it,” she whispered against my hair. “You fucking did it, and I am so amazingly proud of you.”
I held on to her for a long time as fear and doubt crept in to eviscerate my joy.
“All right, all right,” Cameron said.
Alicia wiped tears from her cheeks when we pulled apart, and Cameron handed us each a plastic cup of champagne.
“We’re fancy around here,” he said, raising his cup to ours in a toast. “May Soph’s next forty years be filled with friends, family, and fun.
May she also discover she is as capable and wonderful as the rest of us already know she is.
Oh, and may ole Robo Robbie gain ten pounds a year while balding prematurely. ”
“Cheers!” Alicia called.
I laughed and drank, realizing I didn’t care if Robert was fat or bald, happy or miserable. I just never wanted to share space with him again.
And I didn’t want to fail.
Cameron was first to lower his cup, having tossed back the champagne like a shot. “The boys and I unloaded everything we could into the dining room and kitchen. The place is pretty packed now, but Alicia thought you might be able to stay in the trailer at night until you make headway on the house.”
“And I’m off for the summer,” Alicia reminded me. “Possibly the only perk of teaching teens at an underfunded public high school.”
“She means aside from the opportunity to shape the minds of our country’s future,” Cameron said.
Alicia rolled her eyes and took another sip of champagne. “Yep. That too.”
I gave the ramshackle house and overgrown lawn a long look. “Any chance you saw a mower around here?”
Cam lifted a finger to adjust the brim of his hat. “CJ will bring ours over on the trailer and take care of it for you in the morning. Then he’ll come back on the weekends. Alicia already offered to pay him for it.”
“No,” I said.
She shook her head. “I’ve been giving the boys allowance for existing all their lives. They drive now. It’s summer break. They can do this for you. Let them.”
Tears burned and blurred my eyes without falling. I nodded.
“I mean it,” she said. “I can be here to help as often as you want, and the guys will help when they can. Your mom’s got three of anything you can think of in there. We’ll hold on to the things you want. Take trash to the curb and everything else to some kind of donation center. We’ve got this.”
“Sounds like a great plan.”
“It’s what I do,” she said. “Now, what do you want to do first?” she asked. “Because you’re fucking free.”
I looked at the house again, then the backyard and trailer. I thought of Robert’s rage, and a thousand possible repercussions for my absence.
Anything I’d accidentally left behind was surely in the trash by now.
He’d see this as an act of war instead of a desperate bid for peace.
The family-man persona he’d so carefully crafted would be shattered, forcing him to find a new mask.
His second-favorite role was one of a victim.
Tomorrow, he’d tell anyone who asked how blindsided he’d been and how gutted he was by my abandonment.
That was if he played nice. Instead, he might confess that his happiness was all an act, because he’d been hiding the truth.
That I’d been a terrible wife and mother.
That’s why he didn’t always come out to see me when I brought desserts to the office.
Maybe he’d say I was controlling. Maybe he’d label me an alcoholic like my mother.
A cheater. Or someone who spent all his money on vanity and nonsense.
“Let’s start with dinner,” Alicia suggested when I didn’t speak. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and led me to the back patio, where smoke seeped from a grill. “Did you know we’re tailgating tonight? I hired a private chef.”