![]() I guess I’ve just been so caught up in the pain of this whole thing.” “Cora, you have so much more insight than I do. He had nice hands, and his touch was warm and comforting. ![]() He just wants to move on.”ĭrew reached across the table and patted my hand. “He doesn’t want to acknowledge that he ever loved me. “He doesn’t see it that way.” I sounded stronger than I felt. ![]() Jerry is a damn fool for letting you slip away.” “I decided that, rather than feel sorry for myself, I’d get myself into good shape, mentally and physically.” “You seem pretty pulled together.” He sniffled. “I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, and I’m barely making it to work.” “I don’t know how she can do this to me!” he cried. ![]() “I’ve been reading a lot of books about this type of thing, and if they are determined, there’s nothing we can do to stop them.”ĭrew began to cry in earnest now, dabbing at his eyes and blowing his nose loudly in a napkin. “I don’t see how we can stop them,” I said with more confidence than I felt. He wasn’t just a lying cheat, he was cheap as well, not willing to spend the gas money to visit his girlfriend. While I’d been thinking that Jerry was reluctant to leave the house because he didn’t really want a divorce, he was actually staying there because it provided easy access to Linda. “At least that’s her plan.” He wiped at his eyes, and I wondered if he was crying.Īll the little shreds of information I’d collected for the past few months suddenly made sense. I caught my breath and asked slowly, “What do you think we should do?” I felt as if someone had punched me right in the stomach. “I was wondering what you planned to do about Linda and Jerry,” he finally blurted out. I finally broke the ice by commenting that he seemed depressed. Once we were settled at one of the cute little bistro tables, Drew seemed more interested in stirring his coffee than talking. With just his eyes, Drew could make a woman feel as if she was the only woman in the world. I wondered if that was what his wife, Linda, found so appealing about him. “Let me buy you a cup of coffee.” He steered me toward the coffee bar across the street.ĭrew wasn’t the handsomest man I’ve ever met, but I’d always liked him because he seemed very attentive the few times I’d spoken to him. “I was wondering if you had a little time to talk.” “I’m Drew Chandler,” my next-door neighbor said. I was at the library, checking out another stack of self-help books, when someone tapped me on the shoulder. He still didn’t move out of the house, so I continued to hope that we could possibly save our marriage. I watched him come and go, and I wondered why he was being so mysterious. Just as suddenly as he’d reached for me, he pulled away and stammered, “I, uh, have to be somewhere.” He hurried out of the house so fast, I didn’t even have a chance to ask him where he was going. I thought perhaps he’d come to his senses and finally realize what a rash and ridiculous idea a divorce was. I could feel his warm fingers on my breasts. “You’re more beautiful than the day we married.” He kissed me again. “You’re lovely, Cora.” He kissed me slowly and deeply. I was passing him in the hallway one evening, and all of a sudden, he grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall. I even began attending a group for women like me who were having marital problems. I trimmed the fat from my diet and worked out regularly. I read diet books and exercise books and cookbooks. I read everything from why I loved Jerry too much to the book about which planet he came from and why women don’t understand men. Each week, I went to the library and checked out a stack of self-help books. Heidi was doing well in school, and I hoped that my husband was just going through a phase and that eventually he’d see that we were meant to be together.ĭuring the second month of our strange living arrangement, I embarked on an extensive self-improvement program. I wasn’t sure what to think, and as the months passed, we fell into an amicable friendship. He had moved into the guestroom, but when I broached the subject of one of us leaving our home, he merely shrugged and said, “All in good time.” I waited for Jerry to move out of our house, but he never mentioned moving, nor did he suggest that I leave. Those few words would forever change our lives and that of our daughter, Heidi. It might not have been a big deal to him, but it was a huge deal to me. My head was spinning with so many emotions: terror that I’d be out on the street or living in my car, hurt because I still loved him and I wanted our marriage to work, and wonder because I couldn’t understand why, after ten years of marriage, I’d had no idea this was coming. “We don’t have anything in common,” he stated. He broke the news to me in his usual quiet way.
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