“That mummy.”
“And this one?” I pointed to the smallest rabbit in the upstairs bedroom.
“Baby girl.”
“Is there a daddy?”
Matilda nodded and pointed to a rabbit reclining awkwardly in a chair in what I guessed was the living room. He wore a checkered shirt but was missing his trousers.
I smirked.Art imitating life…
“And who’s this?” I pointed to the new creature gripped tight in her fist. The poor fellow seemed to have become her favorite. It was a ginger bear wearing overalls.
“This Cal.” She leaned over and whispered, “He not farmer. He pirate.”
I snickered a laugh. Poor Callan. He’d never escape this now.
I was stacking Matilda’s picture books on the nightstand when my phone rang. An actual ringtone and not a vibration. Jeremy.
I grabbed my phone off the spotted comforter neatly folded on the end of the bed. “Daddy’s calling, Til. Will you be okay?”
Matilda was too engrossed in rearranging the rabbit family’s kitchen to answer me. I curled one of her wispy pigtails around my finger before ducking out of the bedroom. This wasn’t a conversation for a toddler to overhear.
I started the call with an apprehensive “Hi—”
“Hey, beautiful,” Jeremy said. “Where’s my dinner?”
I blinked at the exposed white stone lining the living room wall. “Sorry?”
I wasn’t sure if I was more confused by the “Hey, beautiful” or the fact Jeremy was asking me about dinner. Hadn’t he noticed my engagement ring and wedding band sitting on the nightstand? That was proof I was gone. He couldn’t have missed it…could he? Maybe I should have left him a letter. Something like…Thanks for the best six years of my life and the worst week of my life. Both have made me a better person. I’ll be even better if I never see your pathetic, no-good, cheating ass again until the end of my days.
“I’ve looked for the plate you usually leave me in the fridge,” Jeremy said. “I can’t find it.”
“I haven’t left a plate for you tonight.”
I expected Jeremy to ask why, but he grunted with annoyance. “You’re lashing out at me.”
“I’m not lashing out. If you think I’d stay after what happened—”
“You’re staying with one of your girlfriends to punish me?”
“No!”
“A hotel? Is that it?”
“You broke my fucking heart, Jeremy!” Screwing my eyes shut, I forced myself to take a deep breath. Getting upset in earshot of Matilda and her picture-perfect rabbit family was the last thing I needed to do.
“I made a mistake.” The gentle edge to his voice caught me off guard, but my heart was knotted too tight for it to undo the hurt. “One colossal fucking mistake.” He sighed. “We’ll talk when you come home.”
No goodbye, only silence. He’d hung up.
I stared in disbelief at my phone. What the hell was that conversation? I rocked on the spot, unsteady and so confused.The adrenaline and anger that had powered me through the last two days drained out of me. I collapsed onto the couch.
I opened the email from my lawyer on my phone. A draft letter to Jeremy explaining the separation was attached.
Please confirm your instructions.
My thumbs hovered above the screen, ready to type, but my resolve to end my marriage was shaky.
