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I shrugged. "What could I do? I was knee deep in reports for work that had a very short deadline, one that was closing in, so I said nothing. I didn’t even confront them. When Valerie came home, she pretended nothing was up. I didn’t want to acknowledge what was really going on, but soon I started having trouble at work, trouble concentrating, and I worried about Grace constantly when I left her with Valerie. So, I started taking Grace to work with me five days a week and placing her in daycare. A few weeks later, I hired a private investigator to follow Valerie. Our sex life, at this point, was so non-existent it was ridiculous, and she’d taken to sneaking out of the bedroom throughout the night. It wasn’t long before the investigator confirmed what I already knew. She was cheating on me. I am not sure if that was the worst part, though.”
Iris looked at me, confusion in her eyes. “The cheating wasn’t the worst part?”
I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t even the fact she’d meet with the guy every chance she got. The worst for me was that she was sleeping with a younger man. Our nineteen-year-old neighbour.”
Iris’s jaw dropped at my response.
“I gave everything to my lawyer. The divorce was nasty. I moved in with my sister for a bit afterward with Grace. Shortly after, I retired from my job. I’d done well for myself over the years and really couldn’t take the stress of that lifestyle anymore. Of course, Valerie still comes around. I'd left Grace with her for a couple of weeks, while I came out to Willow Valley to look at the bed-and-breakfast with my mother. That had been a mistake. After Grace was home, I didn't hear from Valerie for months. She's just recently resurfaced again and wants money."
"Wow, just wow. I’m so sorry that this is happening and happened to you."
I shrugged again and picked up my wine. "Whatever I did to piss off the guy upstairs, I'm hoping my punishment is almost over."
"Oh, Zach. You're not at fault for how she behaves. We have no control over other people’s actions."
"This is true." I felt lighter knowing she knew the full truth now, and the fact she hadn’t left the table said something as well.
"Just so you know I'm happy to listen anytime you need a shoulder."
"Thank you. Now, since we are on a sharing path, how about you tell me about your marriage and what happened?"
I watched as Iris picked up her glass and took a drink. The far-off look in her eyes, and the fact she hadn’t started telling me, gave me cause for concern.
"If you'd prefer not to tell me, that is okay," I said, trying to reassure her I wasn't trying to impose.
"Oh, it’s not that I won't talk about it. I'm just trying to figure out where to start. My relationship wasn't like yours. The opposite, in fact."
"I'm glad to hear that. Just start wherever you are comfortable."
"Lucas was my college sweetheart. We got married right after we graduated, and life began. We had Dylan and Noah. We were going to try for a girl when Noah was three, but Lucas started not to feel well.
“At first, he was just tired all the time. Then the headaches began. Debilitating headaches, so bad that when one would strike, I'd have to get him from work. He complained the lights were so bright they’d make him feel nauseous. Soon they began coming in droves. Stress seemed to cause them, so his doctor took him out of work, figuring it could be related to work stress.
“He was off for a couple of weeks, and things seemed to get better. The doctor kept him off another month, and by that time the headaches were much worse, lasting two to three days. One night he got up to clear the table after dinner and he passed out cold on the floor."
I swallowed hard and was glad for a break when our meal came.
We both dug into our dishes and closed our eyes at the same time. "God, this is good," Zach muttered.
"Yes, it is," Iris said, licking her lips while digging back into her dish.
"Alright, so you were saying. He'd passed out during dinner."
"Yes. I, of course, immediately called an ambulance. I'd been on Lucas to have his doctor run more tests, but he refused to ask. I think it probably scared him to investigate any more into the cause.
“Finally, we were in the hospital, and fortunately, he was put under the care of an excellent doctor who immediately began a myriad of tests. I sometimes wonder if knowing wasn't worse than not knowing after we found out that Lucas had a brain tumour."
I looked at Iris, who sat across from me with watery eyes. The last thing I wanted was for her to break down in tears. After all, this was our first night out together.
"Hey, if this is too much for you to talk about, then we can move on to something a little lighter," I whispered.
"No, just the memories are hard. Anyway, the doctor had put him on some medication for the headaches, and once they worked, I was hopeful everything would be okay. Of course, we had appointments with other doctors and such to discuss treatment options, and we were navigating those as best as we could.
“His first two scans showed zero signs of growth, and doctors were optimistic it wasn’t cancerous. However, six months later, that was the one that read differently. The tumour had grown considerably, and, upon further investigation, he was diagnosed with brain cancer. Completely untreatable. They couldn’t do anything. We were given a date, and we did what we could for the next year.
“We took the boys on day trips and took vacations until Lucas could no longer get out of the house. Shortly before the end of that one year, a hospice worker moved into the house, and he passed away almost to the day of the date we’d been given. Noah was five, Dylan was seven, and here I was left with these two boys and no clue what I was going to do."
"Well, now that I've heard this, my problems seem to be nothing but silly."
