AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Loved.
Past tense.
I don’t know if Paige said I’m not smart, but I doubted it much more than believed it. I’ve never been insecure but that shit gets into your head when it’s done long enough. No way was I going to whine to them — Did you call me stupid? -- not after all that fucking chaos I went through with Gabriel and Paige. No. Just no.
So I kept quiet.
And protected us.
But now I’ve had to be honest with myself. A lot of the times I stayed home with her was solely to avoid her lashing out. Having a fit. Crying to sleep. Or the cold shoulder which would last for days. Weeks sometimes.
I also wanted to avoid the looks they gave us, which were true. My cousins never approved of Shelby and when we showed up at one of our famous Family BBQs or any of the big events, everyone would get quiet. I could see what they thought of us. I’ll never forget when we showed up to help Caden move to Chicago. Never saw so much coldness from my cousins than on that day.
So yeah, I protected us.
A man doesn’t leave his marriage. Vows are vows. I’m the first Cocker to do it and, I think, to have a reason to. That I know of.
But I’ve missed those guys. Year after year my world got smaller and my wife never got any happier, taking me down the pit of hell with her.
I walk in, shoulders tense. She gets up from the couch, her favorite place to be, blonde curls still beautiful, pretty face hardly aged in the decade or so we’ve been together, but she’s hideous as she demands to know, “Where’s our son?!”
“Why are you here?” I toss my keys onto a hook by the door without looking. They land right next to hers.
“This is my house, Ben!”
“No, this is my house. When I got your texts I considered calling police.”
“You have no way of stopping me from being here…”
“—Which is why I didn’t call.”
Shelby glares at me. I inhale patience and find none.
“Where’s our son!”
Here we go.
“Staying at Ethan’s and Charlie’s.”
“Those snobs?!”
“THAT’S ENOUGH! I will not hear another word against my family from you EVER AGAIN!”
She gasps.
It’s the first time I’ve yelled.
Yelling is her thing.
Never mine.
Until right now.
“Don’t pretend like you have anything against the rich because all you do is watch reality TV shows about them! You’d give your eyeteeth to be one. You don’t watch that shit that much without wishing it was you. So let’s talk about what’s really got you scared! Your doctor called and told you I saw her yesterday.”
Shelby slams her sneakered foot on the ground. “She’s my doctor! Not yours!”
“You can’t help me out on the farm because of your back? Your arthritis? Your ruptured achilles. Guess what? I was planning my finances with this divorce, what I was willing to cover for you, so I asked about a surgery — if one would help so you could work again. Support yourself and have independence. And you know what she said? You’re healthier as a twenty-year-old athlete! Strong bones! News to me!”
