Chapter 12 #2
Seeing it, he elaborated. “You’ve changed, man. Over the last twelve, maybe eighteen months you’ve become all about Ryan. I tried to cut you some slack because of your dad, and Grady, but this midlife crisis you’ve got going on needs to fucking end,” he announced harshly.
“You’ve become a selfish, self-absorbed prick who takes Melanie for granted.
You either ignore her, or you’re an ass to her, there is no in-between.
I wanted to nut-punch you months ago for it, but she wouldn’t let me because she felt sorry for you.
Well, newsflash, asshole, she doesn’t feel sorry for you anymore.
She’s over it, and she’s over you and your bullshit. ”
My body absorbed each verbal hit as if it were an actual physical blow, and by the time he finished giving me hell, I felt thoroughly defeated. I couldn’t even defend myself, because he was right. My actions were indefensible.
Having said his piece, Mark stood and slipped on his coat, then walked out without saying another word.
I sat there replaying our conversation until my phone buzzed with the chime reserved for our banking and credit card notifications.
We had limits set, so that any charges over two hundred dollars would generate an instant alert, just in case it was fraudulent.
Melanie had set it up last year, when my debit card had been compromised after I used it at new restaurant.
The thief had rung up close to one thousand dollars in charges before I’d realized it, and it had taken almost three weeks to get the money returned to our account.
I picked up my phone and idly scrolled though the notification, more for something to do than because of any real concern. That changed the very second I saw the details for the charge.
Two hundred and twenty-five dollars, paid just moments ago to Stallard, Abner, and Lowe, Attorneys-at-Law.
A feeling of horror washed over me, and with trembling fingers, I typed the name of the law firm into a search engine.
“Please, no,” I whispered as I waited for the results to pop up. My heart stopped as I read the top result.
Stallard, Abner, and Lowe, specializing in divorce and family law.
I was still sitting there, stunned and almost frozen with fear, when the doorbell rang yet again. I ignored it, until whoever it was leaned on the buzzer and didn’t let up.
I launched myself across the room and yanked the door open, ready to give hell to whoever it was. When I saw Mitch leaning against the door jamb, smiling without a care in the world, I almost lost it.
“What the fuck do you want?”
His smile morphed into a scowl as he pushed off the door frame and shouldered past me. I slammed the door behind him and turned around to see him shrugging out of his coat.
“Well, hello to you to, man. I take it from your pissy mood that the little woman is still busting your balls about Vegas?”
I grabbed him by the shoulder and whirled him around to face me, then went nose-to-nose with him. I was a little taller, so I had the pleasure of looking down at him slightly, which I knew pissed him off.
“She’s not busting my balls, motherfucker. She left me. She paid a lawyer this afternoon. She’s filing for divorce, because of you!”
Mitch’s eyes widened slightly, then he pushed at my chest. When he couldn’t move me, he took a few steps back himself.
He held up his hands defensively and slowly shook his head. “Damn, I knew it would piss her off, but I never thought she take it this far.”
My eyes narrowed and I pinned him with a suspicious glare. “That sounds like you meant for her to find it.”
“Hell, no, man,” he denied, but I wasn’t sure I believed him. “How would I know she’d go through your suitcase?”
I gritted my teeth. “She wasn’t ‘going through my suitcase’, she was unpacking for me because she likes to be helpful like that.” Knowing Mel, she was probably going to launder my dirty clothes for me.
“Whatever. You want to blame me, fine. It’s my fault. I’m a terrible friend. Happy now?”
“No, I’m not fucking happy now! My wife isn’t just pissed, Mitch.
She’s done. She paid a divorce lawyer.” My voice broke, and I had to clamp my jaw tight to stop it from trembling.
I ran my hands through my hair as I slumped against the wall, my knees feeling as though they would give out any second.
“Look, you’re gonna be fine. You’ve been complaining about her lately anyway. Is it really such a big loss?”
I turned and looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “What the hell are you talking about? I haven’t been complaining about her,” I seethed indignantly. “I love her.”
“Yeah, so you say, but are you really happy with her? She rides your ass all the time, she never does anything fun. You can’t get her to go to the gym.
Everything has to be done on a schedule, or it has to be on her list. I’ll bet you don’t even get laid unless she puts a reminder on the calendar for it,” he snickered. “Blow job, Monday at nine.”
I stiffened, the straightened to my full height as I faced him. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“C’mon, man, don’t get pissed at me. I’m not saying anything you haven’t said before.”
My fists clenched and it was all I could do not to punch him. “I have never said anything like that,” I snarled.
He scoffed and shrugged. “Maybe not those exact words, but you’ve complained about her nagging you to stay home more, and that she never wants to do anything. You’ve made fun of her incessant list making and checking reviews and sucking the joy out vacations with those itineraries she makes.”
Guilt hit me, because I had said those things, or similar.
I hadn’t meant them in the mean-spirited way Mitch implied though.
I loved to tease Melanie about her practical nature and need for research and organizing.
It was a perfect balance to my way of doing things, which was to wing it.
My way could be more fun, but it was also equally likely to end in disappointment, which is why I gladly did things the way she wanted to.
Before I could open my mouth to refute his claims, he went too far.
“The way I see it, I did you a favor, dude. I doubt that wife of yours would ever take the stick out of her ass long enough to let you fuck it, and that’s no way to live.”
Two seconds later, Mitch was sprawled on the floor holding his jaw as blood spurted from his busted lip, and I was standing over him, yelling at him to get the fuck out before I killed him.