The Calls
I made it to my car before my knees started shaking.
For several minutes, I sat behind the wheel and breathed slowly.
My phone rang.
Adrian.
I let it ring.
Then a message came.
What have you done?
Another.
Claire, answer me.
Another.
You don’t understand.
I laughed once, but there was no joy in it.
Then I drove away.
I did not go home. Home still smelled like his coffee. His shoes were by the door. His favorite chair faced the fireplace. I was not ready to sit inside a marriage that had already ended.
So I drove to my cousin Maren’s café.
The moment she saw my face, she came around the counter.
“What happened?”
I whispered, “Adrian.”
She took off her apron, locked the front door for five minutes, and pulled me into the back room.
That was where I finally cried.
Not in front of him.
May you like
Not in front of her.
Only there, where someone still loved me without asking me to perform strength.
