Chapter 1
In the sixth year of my marriage to Stefan, I discovered I was pregnant, only to have the joy extinguished by the news of an ectopic pregnancy, forcing me to terminate it. On the morning of the miscarriage, I received a call from a woman.
"Hi, could you please ask your husband to come home?" she said. "He's been lingering outside my place."
I suddenly felt drained.
When I handed the divorce papers to Stefan, he asked irritably, "Just over this small issue?"
"Yes, just over this small issue."
...
"It's just one phone call. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? And what can you even do after we split?" Stefan, falling back into his usual indifferent manner, asked with a mix of curiosity and disdain.
I looked at his relaxed expression, realizing he didn't believe I would actually go through with the divorce. To him, it seemed like I was just throwing a tantrum in a new way.
"Stefan, I'm not being dramatic," I said, looking at him earnestly. "Let's get a divorce."
Stefan gazed at me for a moment, as if trying to gauge what I was trying to prove.
"Layne," he softened his tone, "I just had too much to drink yesterday. I went to her place just to ask her to join me for a coffee. If that upset you, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."
It was the first time Stefan had calmly explained himself to me, still thinking the divorce was solely about that phone call.
Last night, Stefan didn't come home.
I waited for him, dragging my post-surgery body through the night. Just as I was about to fall asleep, a call came from a stranger, a woman telling me Stefan was still outside her place.
Before I could call Stefan to confront him, my phone rang again.
"Miss, Stefan has left," she said, adding with a touch of contempt, "I just think you deserve better. When I had late-night snacks with him, I saw him cozying up to different women."
After hanging up, I didn't call Stefan to argue as I usually would. I just felt worn out.
Worn out from waiting, worn out from enduring.
Maybe losing this child was a sign that it was time to end this futile marriage.
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