The following day he called me.
“I’ve arrived in Seattle,” he said cheerfully. I could hear airport announcements playing faintly in the background as if he wanted to make the story sound convincing.
“How was the flight?” I asked in a neutral voice.
“Long but worth it,” he replied. “This will secure our future.”
Our future.
For the next three days he continued calling from what he claimed was Seattle. Sometimes he showed white office hallways during video calls and sometimes he spoke from parking garages or inside cars.
If I had never seen the apartment contract, I might have believed every word he said.
On the fifth day something happened that completely disrupted his carefully built lie.
He received the official divorce notification.
Within an hour my phone rang again.
His voice sounded furious this time.
“What is this, Brooke?” he demanded.
“It is the result of your decisions,” I answered calmly.
“You have no idea what you are doing.”
“I know exactly what I am doing,” I said quietly. “I know about the apartment in Oak Brook. I know about Stephanie. And I know about the baby.”
The silence that followed lasted several seconds.
Finally he spoke again in a lower tone.