The Lingering Ex

Insight

Daniel was hesitant before answering, "That decision isn't up to just me, and for such a large sum, I am not sure the other's would approve it..". As he poured a cup of coffee, he gave Abigail a worried look and sat across from her. "Isn't your husband an investor? Why not ask him about this matter?" Daniel inquired.

Abigail froze for a moment. In all three years of her marriage, she did not know anything about Dean's business aside from being an investor, and even then, she got no financial support from it. 

"Thank you for your time this morning, I will get back to work." Abigail stood to leave. As she started to walk towards the door, Daniel called out, "I will have HR push your raise through, for all of your hard work". Abigail turned and nodded her head with a solemn smile and continued back to her office. She grabbed her jacket and a pack out of her bag before heading to the elevators. She was a bit frustrated, now having to figure out another way to get the money. 

Once outside, she pulled a cigarette from the pack and stared at it for a moment. Abigail wasn't addicted to cigarettes and had actually quit smoking when she married Dean. He did not like the smell of the smoke. But at this point, a cigarette was the only thing that could relieve her annoyance. 

As she leaned against the building, dragging on her smoke, her mind started to ponder about all of the recent events unfolding within her family. She always felt her family had lived extravagantly and while she did know her father was a congressman, she never really thought about where the money came from.

 A few weeks ago she was on her way home when she received a phone call from her mother who was frantic and asked her if she had seen the news. Hearing the worry in her mother's voice, she hurried home and turned on the TV and saw her father had been arrested for corruption and embezzlement. Abigail was stunned, she couldn't understand why the sweet and caring man she knew her father to be, could do something like that. The next day she had consoled her mother and they contacted a lawyer to figure out the next steps. Together they sold all of the family property and vehicles to repay the money Mr. Miller had taken. Unfortunately, they still came up two-hundred thousand short. During this time, Abigail reached out to her closest friends and was unable to borrow from them as well. 

As she finished her cigarette and put it out, she pulled out her phone and looked through her contacts. She came across Dean's contact and hesitated. Thinking about what Daniel had said, she pressed the call button. "Hello, Dean's office", as the call connected a woman's voice rang out. Abigail paused for a second and looked down at her phone, she was sure she called his direct cell-phone. "Hello?", rang out again in the women's voice. Abigail quickly gathered herself, "Is Dean available?" she asked with an indifferent tone. "Dean is in a meeting, I can take your name and number and have him contact you later", the woman portrayed a very dominant tone but sounded casual as though she does this often. Abigail hung up with a trembling hand and stared at the screen, surely Dean has her number saved in his phone. In the three years of marriage, they had communicated rarely, but they still communicated. Suddenly, Abigail found herself angry as she thought about the woman who answered the phone. She was angry thinking he had someone outside of their marriage, he was cold, but he couldn't be that cold, could he?