You Once Called Me Wife Novel – The diner got unusually quiet. “Kenzie!” Chris said, his ears turning pink. Opal stood behind him. “I…I didn’t know you’d be here.” “I’ve only been eating here for the last five years,” I replied coolly. I want to punch him and scratch her eyes out. Chris looked guilty, but I wasn’t finished. “Just what were you doing the entire time we were married?” I yelled. “Cause it wasn’t paying attention to your wife.” “Chris, honey, we’re going to be late,” she said in a sweet voice. “We should get going.” “Yes, wouldn’t want to be late, honey,” I seethed. “Let’s get a divorce, you prick.”
The Friday I left work early to prepare the lasagna my husband had always loved, I caught him cheating. I was on my way to the specialty grocery to grab what I needed to fix our dinner. As I walked across the town square, someone called my name. I turned to wave at them, and my eyes skated across the patio of one of the nicest restaurants in town. Sitting there, with his back to me, was Chris and a woman I’d never seen before. His ring finger was clean. I blinked several times, trying to wake myself up. But I wasn’t dreaming. Neither of them noticed me as I crept forward, their eyes and hands locked. I couldn’t see my husband’s expression, but the woman smiled and laughed, her eyes sparkling. “I promise to love you forever and then some” was what he always told me. He was the only man I’d ever been with. The only one I’d ever loved. So, like a fool, I believed him. My heart shattering, I leaned against a building for support. I was close enough to hear their conversation without being conspicuous, so I pulled out my phone and called him. Chris pulled out his phone, looked at it, and rejected the call. His voicemail message rang in my ear. “Everything all right?” the woman asked.
“Yeah,” he replied, taking her hand again and pecking it. “It was no one important. Just a spam call.” I snapped a photo of them and turned around, unable to look anymore. Chris wasn’t wearing his ring, and he pecked another woman’s hand. I was no one important; I was just a spam call. Abandoning the grocery, I got into my car, remembering how Chris had been such a gentleman on our first date. It was our senior year of high school, and I’d been reluctant to date because my friends said that guys always expected intercourse. But I’d known Chris for a while, so, when he asked me out, I said yes. After our first date, he walked me to my door and pressed my hand to his lips, saying, “This is the only goodnight peck I’m looking for tonight.” I fell head over heels in love with him right then. For a long time, I was the happiest girl alive. Chris and I hardly fought, and we seemed to want the same things in life. When we graduated, he started working as a loan officer at his family’s bank, and I started working in a chiropractor’s office. We got married a year later. Now, five years into our marriage, Chris was quiet at home. He was never mean, but he seemed distracted. He told me it was because he’d been really busy at the bank. Apparently, a lot of people were refinancing and buying houses. But on my drive home that day, I wondered how much of what he told me was true. As a teenager, I’d thought I had gotten my fairy tale. As a wife, I’d thought I could rekindle the spark between us with a romantic dinner. Now, I knew I was wrong.
When I returned to the home my grandparents had left me just outside of town, I set my things on the bar and sat on the sofa without bothering to turn on the lights. Several hours later, I still hadn’t moved. I just watched as Chris’s headlights flashed through the living room window. The door opened, and I heard my husband’s heavy footsteps. A minute later, he turned on a lamp and jumped. “Jesus!” Chris said, his hand clutching his chest. “What are you doing sitting here in the dark, Kenzie?” I was too numb to say anything. In all that time, I hadn’t screamed or thrown objects around. I hadn’t even broken down and cried. I had literally just sat there, aching as the splintered pieces of my heart rolled around my chest. “Kenzie?” Chris asked, sitting beside me. “Sorry, I didn’t get your call earlier. My phone was dead, and I couldn’t charge it until I got in the car. Stupid me forgot my charger here.” I still didn’t respond, didn’t move. I wondered if I was having a mental breakdown. Wouldn’t most women have stormed up to the table and confronted their husbands on the spot? Or at least berated them when they got home?
Yet I couldn’t do anything. It was like I thought the situation would go away if I didn’t acknowledge it. “Kenzie? Are you awake?” Chris took my hand, and I felt his wedding ring press into my fingers. “No!” I said, jerking my hand back. I finally turned to look at my lying prick of a husband. “Hey. Hey, what’s going on? Kenzie, are you all right? Are you hurt?” For a moment, I almost tricked myself into thinking that there was concern in his eyes. Almost. But I couldn’t trust anything anymore. I’d been reading him wrong for God knows how long. “Talk to me, Kenzie. You’re starting to scare me.” “How long?” I managed, my voice scratchy. I felt like my throat and chest were burning. “How long what, baby?” he replied, trying to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. I pulled away and moved to the chair next to the sofa. “How long have you been sleeping with her?” I asked. Chris looked just as surprised as I was that I put it so bluntly. I was never one to cuss much, but that day felt like the time to start. It was a day for firsts. I watched as Chris’s face paled. His mouth opened and closed like he didn’t know if he should speak or not. The war in his eyes told me all I needed to know. “I’m not sure what you mean,” he said shakily.
At that moment, it was obvious that Chris couldn’t lie very well. ~How in the world did he keep this secret from me?~ I wondered. ~Oh yeah, he’s been hiding at work.~ “The woman you were with today at the restaurant,” I clarified. “How. Long. Have. You. Been. Sleeping. With. Her?” “I don’t know what you think you know, but there’s nothing going on,” Chris said quickly. I pulled my phone out and showed him the picture I took of him pecking the woman’s hand. “This should jog your memory,” I seethed. “Remember, you said I was just a spam call?” Chris rubbed his hand down his face, then looked back at me. His eyes were full of guilt and shame. “I never meant for things to end up like this,” he said. “I was going to talk to you about it soon. I was just working up the courage to tell you.” “Tell me what?” Chris scratched the back of his neck. “I’m leaving you. I fell in love with Opal, and I want to be with her.” It was worse than I thought. Not only was he cheating, but he was also leaving without trying to work things out in therapy. He decided that we were over before I even knew anything was wrong.
“Better get packing then,” I responded with all the venom I could muster. “I want you out of the house. I assume you’re not going to try and take my dead grandparents’ home from me, right?” Chris sighed, probably surprised I didn’t beg him to stay. But I wouldn’t degrade myself like that. “McKenzie, don’t be like this. You know I would never do that to you. I know how much you love this house. I’m not a monster.” He stood up and walked toward me, but I put my hand up to make him stop. “But around behind my back makes you a saint?” I asked. “Don’t kid yourself, Chris. You might not have beaten me or stolen my home, but you crushed my heart and soul. So yeah, you’re a monster.” I walked around him, heading toward the bathroom. I couldn’t stand the thought of looking at him another minute. “Pack your stuff and get out. I’m sure Opal would love to have you at her place.” ~Did they know?~ I asked myself as I waited for my parents and best friends to come over that night.
~Surely, they would’ve told me.~ But I couldn’t help wondering. In our small town, everyone knew what everyone else was doing, so someone must have seen Chris and Opal together. People were usually wary of strangers hanging around for no apparent reason, yet no one said anything to me. While I ruminated, three vehicles pulled into my driveway. I got up and opened the front door, and my parents and friends headed to the living room without a word. I still hadn’t cried, but my face was tight as I clenched and unclenched my hands. When everyone was seated, I pulled out my phone, opened the picture of the two who ruined my life, and handed the phone to my dad. “Chris has been having an affair with a woman named Opal. I saw them today and took that picture. When he came home, I confronted him, and he told me he was leaving me for her. My question is, did any of you know?” They gave me a resounding “No!” and my mom stood and pulled me into her arms.
“I’ve seen this woman around town for a few months,” my friend Annabeth admitted. “I saw her having lunch with Chris one day, but it looked like a business thing. It didn’t look like anything was going on. I spoke to him and everything.” I pulled away from my mom. “You guys didn’t hear any rumors or anything?” “Nothing,” Erika, my other friend, said. “Why wouldn’t someone tell you if it was out in the open?” “Because who do most people in this town bank with?” Dad answered, an edge in his voice that I’d never heard before. “You’re right,” Mom said, shaking her head. “Who would want to go against a Weston in this town? They basically control all the money. Sure, they’ve never done anything untoward, but this is their son we’re talking about. They’d do anything for him.” I could see that the news was taking a toll on everyone. Chris and my father used to watch football together on Sundays while my mom and I cooked. Back in high school, Erika and Annabeth would always say he was one of the good ones. He had us all fooled. My dad stood and began walking toward the door, the look on his face murderous. I was scared of what he might do. “Dad?” I said. “Alex, where are you going?” my mom asked.
“Stella, that prick has keys to this house. I’ll be incompetent if I’m letting him come back. I’m running to the hardware store to get some things to change the locks and make it safer here.” With that, he walked out, and I had a feeling that things were going to get messier. *** Sometime later, Dad came back and changed every lock in my house. He also installed deadbolts, thinking that if Chris wasn’t the person we thought he was, there was no telling what he’d do. Dad wasn’t going to let me be the victim of anything else at his hands. A little while later, he left again to get food for me and clothes for my mom. She had decided to stay with me for the foreseeable future, and I wasn’t about to argue with her. I needed someone by my side. As Mom helped me get changed and cleaned up, the dam finally broke. I sobbed for what seemed like hours in her arms, and then she helped me get in bed. “Go to sleep, my girl.” My mother said, touching my head. But my mind was still a mess. Why? Why did he betray me? Our relationship for many years is a joke. I wasn’t ready to face the rest of the town on Monday. I didn’t know who would know about my marriage already and who would have my back when they found out.
When I walked from my workplace to my favorite diner for lunch on Monday, the owner was standing behind the register, scowling. I followed her eyes and saw Chris and Opal sitting in a corner booth. It was like a slap to the face. Chris would never come to the diner with me because he said the food was so greasy that it gave him heartburn. Yet there he sat, smiling at Opal like an idiot schoolboy with his first crush. “I can kick him out, love,” the owner said. “It’s all right, Mace,” I replied. “I called something in. I don’t want to cause a scene.” Still scowling, Macy walked over to grab my order. When she returned, I paid for the food and made light conversation, but then I smelled Chris’s cologne. I straightened up and turned around to face him. The diner got unusually quiet. “Kenzie!” Chris said, his ears turning pink. Opal stood behind him. “I…I didn’t know you’d be here.” “I’ve only been eating here for the last five years,” I replied coolly. I want to punch him and scratch her eyes out. “But it’s all right, you wouldn’t remember, anyway.” I nodded to the woman who took my place. “Opal.” Then I walked out the door, my head held high.
Chelsea, Dr. Hampton’s wife, took one look at my face and asked, “What happened?” I’d just returned to the chiropractor’s office where I worked. Dr. Hampton had a full schedule today, and since I was the only one who worked there, I hadn’t wanted to call in sick. Chelsea came in sometimes to help. “~They~ were in there having lunch,” I told her just as the door opened and Chris walked in. Before we could say anything, he put his hands up. “I didn’t mean to make a scene,” he said, walking slowly toward us. “I think you should turn around and leave, boy,” Chelsea said in a deadly voice. “Kenzie, Opal really wanted to try the food, and I didn’t know you would be there, I swear.” I rolled my eyes. “I find it funny that you always made an excuse not to go to the diner with me, but she comes along, and not only do you go with her but you forget that it’s my favorite place to eat. Everyone in town knows I eat lunch there every day.” Chris looked guilty, but I wasn’t finished. “Just what were you doing the entire time we were married?” I yelled. “Cause it sure wasn’t paying attention to your wife.”
The door opened again, and there stood Opal. The other woman. The temptress. “Chris, honey, we’re going to be late,” she said in a sweet voice. “We should get going.” “Yes, wouldn’t want to be late, honey,” I seethed. “Don’t come back here.” Chris glanced between us, looking at me like he wanted to plead for my understanding or forgiveness. I didn’t give him either. I glared at him with all the anger that I felt at that moment. ~If he wants me to see the guilt in his eyes, then I want him to see the pain in mine. ~ Once he finally left, I dropped into a chair. Chelsea locked the door, walked over to me, and took my hand. I looked up into her kind eyes. “He’s going to regret what he’s done,” she said. “It may not be today or even this year, but trust me when I say that it’s coming. She’s the new thing he wants to play with, but in the end, he’ll wish he didn’t throw you away because women like her are a dime a dozen.” It was like a premonition when she finished, “There’s nothing there to last.”
I spent the rest of my day trying to draw strength from Chelsea’s words. ~I can do this~, I told myself~. It won’t be easy, but I can and will do it. I won’t let my life go down the drain because of someone else’s mistakes. I’m worth more than that.~At work, the girls and my parents all messaged, asking if I wanted someone to come and stay with me, but I told them no. I needed some time alone. And that was the truth. I picked up a pizza on my way home and, while eating, looked up how to get a divorce in our state. Apparently, we had to be separated for six months before the divorce would be granted. ~Three days down. Eighty-eight to go. ~ I pulled out some poster boards and made myself a countdown calendar.
If I was going to go through this, then I was going to look forward to being free. I knew I was going to go through every stage of grief, but I would use this time to build myself up. I wanted to work on myself. To make myself happy. There were things I gave up on because I was married, and now I would get all those things. If someone came along, they would have to work around what I wanted and needed. A new McKenzie was coming, and I couldn’t wait to meet her. She was going to help me build a new life and, if the time came, a new love. Someday, Chris would understand what he had done, but by then, it would be too late. I would’ve already moved on with my life. Then he would know what pain really was.