After My Golden Died, I Divorced Him

Chapter 4 Goodbye

Julian stiffened as he was changing his shoes.

He slowly lifted his head, his gaze finally dropping to the lifeless mass in my arms. He rushed over, a flash of genuine panic tearing through his eyes.

"How is that possible? He was perfectly fine when I left for work yesterday!" he yelled.

He crouched down, reaching out a hand to stroke Buster's head, but I sharply twisted my body away, dodging his touch.

"Nina, you're a goddamn veterinarian! How could you let your own dog die?" Julian shouted.

He was actually blaming me.

Looking at his furious face, I found the whole thing utterly laughable.

I locked my eyes onto his. "Save him? With what, Julian? His emergency meds were in your car. I called you over a dozen times, and your phone was off."

Julian turned deathly pale in a split second. "I... My phone was dead. I swear I didn't know..."

"You didn't know," I interrupted smoothly. "The only thing you knew was that Chloe was scared of the thunder. You completely forgot that Buster's failing heart couldn't survive weather like this. Julian, you called Buster your 'boy'. Well, he spent the last hour of his life waiting for you in the freezing rain."

Julian's eyes turned red. His lips parted as if he were struggling to find an excuse. Right at that exact second, the phone in his pocket rang.

It was the custom ringtone he had set for Chloe.

Out of sheer habit, Julian instantly answered it.

"Julian, Lucky is refusing to eat again! I'm so scared. What if something is really wrong with him? Please, can you come over?" Chloe blurted out. Her whiny sobs echoed crystal clear in the dead-silent living room.

Julian looked at Buster's rigid body and then down at his phone.

Agonizing conflict warred on his face.

He said, "Chloe, I'm dealing with something at home right now..."

"Julian! My chest hurts so much... I can't breathe..." Chloe began panting heavily into the receiver.

Julian's expression morphed into pure terror.

He shot to his feet, throwing me a desperate look. "Nina, I'm so sorry. Buster is already gone, but Lucky is still alive. Chloe is having a full-blown panic attack. Let me go check on her, and I promise I'll be right back to help you handle Buster's funeral."

Without another word, he spun on his heel and sprinted out the door.

I stared at the heavy metal door slamming shut in his wake. But I didn't shed a single tear.

The deepest despair was absolute numbness.

I took Buster to the pet crematorium alone.

Watching his tiny body being pushed into the incinerator, I felt my entire past burn right along with him, turning to ash.

*****

That afternoon, I returned to the empty home.

I placed Buster's urn gently and perfectly in the center of the coffee table.

Then, I pulled the divorce papers I had printed days ago from my bag and signed my name at the bottom.

I slid the wedding band off my finger and pinned the documents down with it.

This was the ring Julian had bought me with his first-ever paycheck.

Now, besides making my finger uncomfortable, it was nothing more than a cheap mockery of my twenties.

I grabbed the handle of my packed suitcase and took one last look at the apartment I had spent seven years turning into a home.

I had hand-stitched those sofa cushions. We had picked out the wall art together. I had potted every single plant on the balcony by myself.

Now, none of it belonged to me.

I walked to the entryway and dropped my house keys onto the shoe cabinet.

When I pulled the door shut behind me, I felt absolutely nothing but relief.

Later, sitting on the Amtrak train to Loston, I pulled out my phone and systematically went down my contacts. I blocked Julian's number, deleted his iMessage, and wiped him off every social media platform I owned.

We were strangers now, walking under different skies, never to cross paths again, alive or dead.