The Wife He Left Behind

002

I breathed in deeply, my eyes threatening to drop tears again.

I bit on my lower lip, I was losing my husband.

Caleb was slipping away, and I couldn't do anything. His ex had returned, and with no hesitation, he ran off to her.

My eyes darted around in anguish.

When I couldn't take it anymore, I stood up, I was going to his office.

Swiftly, I hopped into my car and drove off.

A few minutes later, I arrived at his company’s parking lot. Parked my car and came down gently. My face hard and a lump in my throat.

When I got inside, the receptionist smiled at me the way people smile at someone they feel sorry for. I clenched my teeth tighter, while I gave a brief but sad smile.

"He's in a meeting, Mrs. Stone."

"I'll wait," I said.

I waited twenty minutes before I stopped waiting. His office door was ajar. I could hear his voice — low, easy, the version of him he saved for people he actually wanted to impress.

I pushed the door open.

Ivy was sitting on the edge of his desk.

Not across from it. On it. Legs crossed, one heel dangling, laughing at something he had just said.

His hand was resting on the desk inches from her thigh. They were so close that if I had not known better, if I had been a stranger walking past — I would have thought they were a couple.

The room went very quiet.

Ivy turned first. She smiled at me with only her mouth tilted and her eyes mocking.

“It's so good to see you Lyra." She said, almost rolling her eyes. I could see it.

"Same," I muttered back, my voice deep and eyes deepening into hers.

Caleb straightened. "Lyra, what are you doing here?" his face was disgusted, as if I was not supposed to show up anywhere close to him, as if I was bugging his life.

"I came to talk to my husband." I kept my voice even. "But clearly I'm interrupting," I added, my face expressionless.

"We were just—"

"I can see what you were just doing." I looked at Ivy. "Would you give us a minute?" I spoke to her, my eyes still deepening into hers. How she was so comfortable sitting with my husband like this.

Just then, I saw something flicker across her eyes—not discomfort, it was amusement.

She slid off the desk, smoothed her skirt, and patted Caleb's arm on her way out.

"I'll let you two talk," she said pleasantly, like she was doing me a favor.

The door clicked shut behind her.

"That was unnecessary," Caleb said, his face disappointed.

"She was sitting on your desk, Caleb, so close you both could be mistaken as husband and wife."

"She's a friend. Nothing more and that's how she is with everyone."

"That is not how she is with everyone. That is how she is with you."

He turned away from me, moving to the window, and I felt the familiar punch of it — the way he always managed to make me feel like I was the one being unreasonable.

"You need to stop overreacting," he said.

"Ivy and I are just friends. There's nothing more than that between us."

"You skipped our anniversary for her remember?”

"I didn't skip it, I just—"

"You just chose her over me. Isn't that it? And that's nothing to you?" My voice cracked on the last word and I hated myself for it.

I had promised myself I would not c***k. But even before now, I had broken down several times already.

"Caleb, look at me," I said and he turned around, his expression patient waiting for this to be over.

"I have been trying to tell you something for three days," I said, my voice low.

"Something important. And I have not been able to get five minutes alone with you because she has been everywhere."

"What do you want to tell me?"

I looked at him. My eyes stared into his. This was the man I had fallen so much in love with and got married to, and he loved me back with everything he had.

Then I stared at the distance behind his eyes now—this brought a huge pang to my heart. A lot was going wrong with my marriage and I’m feeling helpless about it.

Since this lady returned to the city, I had not been settled and now my fear was truly coming to pass.

”Lyra?” he called, bringing me back from my several thoughts,

I heaved a deep breath. I wasn't sure if I should do this anymore. If I should give him that opportunity to finally be a father. He wasn't the kind of man I wanted for my children anymore.

I stared at him as he sat there looking at me like I was a problem he couldn't wait to discard.

"Nothing," I finally muttered, sighing deeply, a huge lump at my throat.

"It doesn't matter right now."

“Lyra…”

"Go back to your meeting." I picked up my bag. "Tell Ivy I'm sorry for the interruption."

"Lyra. Hey." He walked after me and grabbed my hand. "You can't just walk in here and just leave.”

I looked at his hand on my arm then at his eyes, and indeed I was losing him, Caleb was becoming someone else entirely. This was not the Caleb I used to know.

Four years of marriage and nothing like this had ever happened, but in our fifth year, my husband decided to entertain his ex, while neglecting his legally wedded wife.

Without saying anything, I removed my hand gently from his grip and began walking out while he stood there watching.

When I was completely outside, I rested my back against the building and breathed in deeply, tears welling up in my eyes.

People moved around me in both directions and nobody noticed the woman quietly falling apart against the glass.

My hand went down to my stomach.

I had been carrying this for three months, and I had not been able to inform the father because he had been busy with his ex.

Just then, my phone beeped.

I pulled it out to see a text from Ivy.

My forehead deepened into a frown. I had not given her my number.

My chest constricted with pain as I made to go through the text. This was the woman causing the turmoil in my marriage.

‘I'm not trying to cause problems Lyra. I just want you to know that, Caleb talks about me to you much less than he talks about you to me.’

I stared at those words for a very long time.

Then my phone buzzed again. A number I did not recognize.

A photo of Caleb and Ivy at what looked like a hotel bar, taken from across the room.

Caleb was leaning toward her, in a way she had her hand pressed flat on the table near his — it looked so intimate, they could be mistaken as a real couple.

With a caption written under it, ‘This was last Tuesday.’

Last Tuesday, Caleb had told me he was at a late client dinner, but obviously, he was with his ex.

Just then, I let out a painful laugh. Caleb and his ex were playing games with me.

After she sent me a text that she wasn't trying to cause any problem, she sent me evidence using an unknown number that she was actually here to cause problems in my marriage.

I scoffed again, biting on my lower lip.

Looking down at my stomach, I shook my head. I was three months pregnant, standing on a Manhattan sidewalk, and my marriage was unraveling in real time.