Chapter 14
1773 Words
Summer’s POV
The first few days after Ethan was served passed more quietly than I expected.
The flowers stopped.
The pastries stopped.
Even the calls stopped.
It was unsettling.
For almost a week, my phone remained strangely peaceful.
No missed calls.
No desperate text messages.
No gifts arriving at the office for Lena to reject on my behalf.
It almost felt…
Over.
Of course, I knew better.
Divorce wasn’t something that simply disappeared because both parties stopped talking.
If anything…
The silence usually meant something bigger was coming.
I had just finished helping Lena fold laundry on Saturday afternoon when my phone buzzed on the coffee table.
I glanced at the screen.
Dad.
My heart skipped.
I frowned.
“Dad?”
Lena looked up from the neatly folded towels.
“What is it?”
“My dad’s calling.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?”
I wasn’t so sure.
My parents rarely called unexpectedly.
We usually planned our video calls because of the time difference.
They’d been living in London for almost twelve years now after my father’s engineering firm transferred him there. My mom had eventually opened her own interior design studio, and somehow they’d built a beautiful life overseas.
They loved me fiercely.
But…
They also loved Ethan.
Or at least…
The Ethan they thought they knew.
A knot formed in my stomach.
“What if…”
Lena tilted her head.
“What if what?”
“What if he called them?”
The possibility had barely left my mouth before it settled heavily between us.
Lena’s expression changed.
“He might have.”
I stared at the screen as it continued ringing.
“I should answer.”
“You should.”
I took a deep breath before pressing accept.
“Dad?”
“My baby.”
His voice immediately softened something inside me.
“How are you?”
My throat tightened.
“I’m okay.”
He was quiet.
Then he asked gently,
“Are you really?”
The question alone almost made me cry.
“I…”
I looked away, blinking rapidly.
“I’ve been better.”
“I figured.”
There was another pause.
Then…
“Your mother is here.”
“I know you’re on speaker.”
A familiar voice immediately joined the call.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
My lips trembled into a smile.
“Hi, Mom.”
“We’ve been trying to figure out the best way to have this conversation.”
I froze.
There it was.
They knew.
Before I could ask…
Dad answered the question already forming in my head.
“Ethan called us.”
My eyes closed.
Of course he did.
“He said…”
Dad hesitated.
“…that the two of you had an argument.”
I laughed bitterly.
“An argument.”
“He also said you’d left home.”
I didn’t answer.
“He said you’d filed for divorce.”
Another silence.
Longer this time.
“I wanted to hear your side.”
Dad’s voice remained calm.
“He said there’d been a misunderstanding.”
Mom spoke next.
“But we didn’t want to make any assumptions.”
“We wanted to hear from our daughter.”
That sentence alone caught me off guard.
Not…
“Explain yourself.”
Not…
“Why are you leaving your husband?”
Just…
We want to hear from you.
A lump formed in my throat.
I sat down slowly on the couch.
Lena quietly stood, giving my shoulder a reassuring squeeze before disappearing into the kitchen to give me privacy.
I appreciated her for that.
“So…”
Dad said gently.
“What happened?”
I stared at the floor.
Where did I even begin?
“The airport.”
My voice came out barely above a whisper.
“It started at the airport.”
I took a shaky breath.
“It was our second year anniversary the other day.”
“I wanted to surprise Ethan.”
“I had everything planned.”
I smiled sadly to myself.
“I even bought him a watch.”
Mom didn’t interrupt.
Neither did Dad.
They simply listened.
“I got to the airport…”
“…and I saw him.”
Another breath.
“He wasn’t alone.”
The words immediately made my chest ache.
“He was kissing his personal assistant.”
Silence.
Not the uncomfortable kind.
The stunned kind.
Dad finally spoke.
“…He what?”
I swallowed.
“I watched them.”
“I didn’t misunderstand.”
“I wasn’t far away.”
“I saw everything.”
Mom inhaled sharply.
“Oh, sweetheart…”
“I confronted him.”
“He said she’d kissed him.”
“He said I’d arrived at the wrong moment.”
Dad let out a slow breath.
“And do you believe him?”
I thought about it.
Then answered honestly.
“I don’t know.”
“And…”
I looked toward the window.
“I don’t think it matters anymore.”
They remained quiet.
“He keeps calling it one mistake.”
“But…”
I smiled sadly.
“It wasn’t just one mistake.”
I told them everything.
How lonely I’d felt.
How Ethan had slowly become emotionally unavailable.
How I’d stopped recognizing myself.
How every conversation somehow became about his career.
His stress.
His responsibilities.
How I’d spent months convincing myself things would get better.
How I kept shrinking just to make the marriage work.
When I finally stopped talking…
Several long seconds passed.
I waited.
My heartbeat echoed loudly in my ears.
This was the moment I’d been dreading.
The lecture.
The disappointment.
The reminders that marriage required sacrifice.
The request to forgive him.
Instead…
Dad spoke quietly.
“Can I ask you one question?”
I nodded before realizing he couldn’t see me.
“Yes.”
“When you made the decision to leave…”
“…did you make it out of anger?”
I thought carefully.
“No.”
“Did you think about it?”
“For days.”
“Did you pray about it?”
“I did.”
“Were you hoping someone would talk you out of it?”
A tear slipped down my cheek.
“Maybe.”
His voice softened even more.
“Summer…”
“…if this is the decision you’ve made after careful thought…”
“…your mother and I will support you.”
I blinked.
“What?”
Mom spoke this time.
“We’re your parents.”
“Our job isn’t to make your decisions for you.”
“It’s to stand beside you while you make them.”
Fresh tears rolled down my cheeks.
“I thought…”
My voice cracked.
“…I thought you’d tell me to save my marriage.”
Dad sighed.
“We believe marriage is important.”
“So do I.”
“But…”
He paused.
“We also believe our daughter deserves respect.”
Mom continued.
“We raised you to build a home.”
“Not to lose yourself inside one.”
I covered my mouth with my hand as a sob escaped.
They kept talking.
Not rushing me.
Not trying to stop my tears.
Simply letting me cry.
“If tomorrow…”
Mom said gently.
“…you decide to forgive Ethan…”
“We’ll support you.”
Dad added,
“And if tomorrow you decide the divorce is the right path…”
“We’ll support that too.”
“We’re not choosing Ethan.”
“We’re not choosing divorce.”
“We’re choosing you.”
Something inside me broke.
Not painfully.
Relievingly.
Like carrying an impossibly heavy suitcase for miles…
Only to discover someone had finally taken it from me.
“I’ve been so scared.”
I admitted through tears.
“Of what?”
“Disappointing you.”
Mom’s voice immediately became firmer.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
“You could never disappoint us by protecting your peace.”
Dad chuckled softly.
“Do you know what disappoints me?”
I sniffled.
“What?”
“That you carried this alone.”
More tears came.
“I didn’t want you to worry.”
“We’re parents.”
Mom laughed gently.
“Worrying is literally part of the job description.”
I laughed through my tears.
A real laugh.
The first one in days.
Dad spoke again.
“One more thing.”
“Hm?”
“Whatever happens next…”
“Whether this divorce takes months…”
“Whether Ethan fights it…”
“Whether he changes…”
“Whether he doesn’t…”
“…you won’t face it alone.”
“We’ll fly home if we have to.”
“We’ll be there.”
“I promise.”
I couldn’t even speak anymore.
I simply nodded repeatedly, crying openly.
After everything that had happened…
After all the fear…
The uncertainty…
The loneliness…
I finally understood something.
I hadn’t lost my family.
I’d been carrying them with me all along.
After we ended the call, I sat on the couch staring at the dark screen of my phone.
Lena quietly returned from the kitchen.
She took one look at my face.
“That went better than expected?”
I laughed, wiping away fresh tears.
“So much better.”
“They’re on your side?”
“They’re on…”
I smiled.
“…my side.”
She smiled back.
“I knew they would be.”
“I didn’t.”
She sat beside me.
“What did they say?”
I leaned my head against her shoulder.
“They told me…”
“…they’re choosing me.”
Lena wrapped an arm around me.
“They’re good parents.”
“The best.”
We stayed like that for several quiet minutes.
Neither of us spoke.
Neither of us needed to.
For the first time in what felt like forever…
I felt seen.
Protected.
Loved.
Not because I was someone’s wife.
Not because I was trying to hold a marriage together.
Simply because…
I was their daughter.
My phone rang again.
I glanced down.
Olivia Hayes.
I sat upright immediately.
“Hello?”
“Good afternoon, Summer.”
Her tone was calm and professional.
“I wanted to update you.”
My heartbeat quickened.
“Has something happened?”
“Your husband has officially retained legal counsel.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
So…
It was beginning.
Olivia continued.
“The first settlement conference has been scheduled.”
I tightened my grip on the phone.
“When?”
“Next Thursday.”
Seven days.
Just seven days before I’d be sitting across from Ethan again.
This time…
Not as his wife.
But as the woman asking the court to end their marriage.
- Writer
