05
Eleven that night, Jake was back home, which
was unusual. He took off his coat and noticed
that the photo frame was gone. He froze.
“Where’s our picture?” he asked, his voice
almost panicked.
“It fell off the wall and broke,” I said, without
emotion.
He looked at the broken glass in the trash can,
seemed relieved for some reason, then dropped
a shopping bag with a Louis Vuitton purse on
the bed.
<
“I know I was supposed to give you a gift
yesterday, and today is our wedding
anniversary, so here. Happy Anniversary,” he
said.
Did I hear that right? I thought, wondering when
he’d started remembering anniversaries. But
then, I saw the receipt. It was only 30 minutes
old, so it was probably Tiffany’s social media
anniversary post that made him remember, and
he just picked one up on the way.
And of course, I had two of the same purses in
my closet.
I just stared at him.
“Hey, the company is doing performance
reviews soon, can you please let Tiffany have it
this year? It would mean the world to her.
You’ve gotten the top award a bunch of times.
Give someone else a chance?” he said,
sounding awkward.
I smiled inwardly. This was the real reason for
the gift. I nodded.
“Okay, fine” I said calmly.
Not just this year. Next year, the year after, I
く
wasn’t going to compete with her at all.
Because after tonight, I’d be gone.
“You’re okay with that?” he said, surprised I
agreed so easily.
He rambled on: “Tiffany’s my student, so you
are like her mentor–mom, this is the way it
should be.”
“Oh yeah, I’m not flying tomorrow, let’s go to
the court house and get the license done,” he
added.
I said nothing.
He seemed to remember the suitcase and
asked softly, “Oh yeah, are you flying
tomorrow, what time do you leave?”
“Three in the afternoon.” I answered.
I decided to use the last few minutes and tell
him I was leaving, but before I could open my
mouth, his phone started ringing.
Tiffany, again. She was all weepy and needed
tampons, and wanted Jake to bring them.
He hung up and gave me a guilty look.
“Tiffany’s having a little emergency. I should
probably go help.” He even had the decency to
<
sound a little sorry about it.
I just nodded and smiled. “Go ahead.”
He seemed relieved. He got up and said, “You can make it for three pm, let’s meet tomorrow
at 10. We’ll get this license, I swear, nothing will stop me.”
I just smiled. No, he’ll find a way to not get it done.
The next morning, I packed up, skipped the courthouse and headed straight for the airport. And by noon, Jake still hadn’t called. It was like I was already gone.
As I was getting ready to board, Jake sent a text. “Sorry! Tiffany was having a rough day! I just took her to the ER, we can do the license another day. I will be there right away when you get back.”
I barely felt anything. Number eighteen and still
no license.
“No need. I resigned. I’m flying to Paris today. We won’t see each other again.” I replied.
I turned my phone off. No more Jake.
But immediately, my phone started vibrating like
