His Betrayal

The Talk

I stood outside of our apartment looking at the door for about 20 minutes trying to talk myself into going inside and dealing with the man I at one time thought I would be spending the rest of my life with. I knew I was going to have to do this eventually, but I don’t think I am ready yet, but I needed to have this conversation sooner rather than later. I got out and walked up to the door and knocked, waiting for him to come to the door. When I got no response, I took a risk and let myself in. Technically, this is still my apartment, but I will not be using it anymore.

I walked in and was met with silence, which was odd because he should have been home. I neglected to look for his car when I got here, but this is his normal time to be home. I walked upstairs and walked around to look for any more items I might need to grab now until I moved. I had made the decision to give him most of the furniture and only take the few pieces I would need for just myself. I knew I didn’t need much, so I started taking a mental inventory. All of a sudden, I heard the door downstairs to be greeted by not only Mark but also Dean, who was with him. I heard them talking as I walked down the stairs and quickly interrupted, “Dean, do you mind taking off for a little bit? I need to have a word with Mark.” They both suddenly stopped talking and turned my way. Dean nodded silently and walked to the door and shouted back. “No problem! Dude, you better do some major sucking up. Just shoot me a message when I can head back.”

I walked to our kitchen table and sat on the opposite side and finally looked at the man that once made my heart hammer. Now I just felt nauseous and all I wanted to do was just walk out. However, I knew this conversation needed to happen so I will tough this out. “This won’t take too long, but I need to get this out, which is why I asked you to give me space for a few days to think. What I walked into the other day was not what I expected after 5 years of what I thought was a happy marriage.” Mark looked like he wanted to add something and I held up my hand to stop him so I could continue. “We were building a life looking to purchase a more permanent home, have kids and that is all gone now.”

“Baby, it doesn’t have to be like that. We can work through this and I know I made a mistake, but please don’t let that end us. Let’s talk about it and if we need to go to therapy I am willing just to not lose you,” Mark desperately cut in.

“Mark, you don’t understand, my trust in you is gone, and something tells me this is not the first time you have done this even though you claim otherwise.” Mark’s eyes evaded mine for a second and that caused my stomach to drop. “Either way, I don’t want to get into that part because my decision was made. I hired a divorce attorney to handle things from here, and I hope we can make this a peaceful split. I already told him that you can have mostly everything in our apartment except for a few essentials that I will need for my move and half of our savings. I don’t want a long-drawn out divorce because it will not be beneficial for either of us.

“Jessie, don't do this! I love you and I don’t want this to be the end of us please!” He started to get up to walk around the table, but I jumped up and held up my hands. “Mark, don’t come near me, it is taking everything in me to have this conversation right now. I have things to finalize today and I just want to get this conversation over with.” I added.

He stopped and sat back down in his chair with this look of loss. “I won’t agree to a divorce, he stated. I will fight for you and I will go to counseling, but I will not end our marriage.”

“That’s the thing Mark, it is already done. I don’t know where or when you felt the need that I was not enough for you, but your actions spoke clearly enough for me. Instead of coming to me to talk about anything you felt was missing, you went to some other random woman or women. We could have worked through that together, not this.” I got up and started walking to the door, adding, “I am filing for divorce and you will be getting the papers. I wanted to at least have the decency to talk to you first. I will make arrangements to get my things later. I will be getting it before I finalize my move.”

“Move? Where are you going?” Mark’s head shot up as he looked towards me with the question.

“I got a job somewhere else, I am on my way to school now to turn in my notice since I have been out on personal leave. I will give all my forwarding information to my attorney and you can refer any questions to him, okay. Goodbye Mark. I really do hope you find the happiness you are looking for.” With that, I walked out of the apartment before he could try to stop me, hopped into my car and drove to talk to my job.

As I pulled into the parking lot of the school, I felt nervous about talking with the administrators. I loved working here with the students, but I knew I needed to get away from here and start fresh. I walked into the office and the receptionist looked up and seemed surprised, "Jessie, what are you doing here? I thought you were taking some personal time?"

I smiled at her and said, "I am Karen. However, I was wondering if Ms Tremont was available to talk to? I am trying to square a few things away and I needed to talk to her also. I would have waited to talk to her tomorrow when I returned, but I wanted to take care of this today if possible."

"Hold on, I will see if she is free to talk now. I know she has a meeting in half an hour but she may be able to squeeze you in." Karen got up and walked down the hallway, so I waited by the counter for her return. As I checked my phone, Karen came back and said, "She said to come right in, she will make the time to talk." smiling, Karen sat back down at her desk and returned to work.

Ms. Tremont was sitting at her desk going over some papers when I walked in. She looked up and smiled at me, "Mrs. Bern, how have you been? I hope your personal time has been helpful. Will you be returning tomorrow, or are you here for an extension?"

I sat in the chair as she gestured for me to sit down and took a deep breath. "I will be here tomorrow, but I am here to let you know I am turning in my two-week notice. I won't go into anything personal, but I will be relocating out of state and I wanted to notify you as soon as I could. I really enjoyed my job here, and it breaks my heart to leave, but things have happened and I can no longer stay here." I handed her my resignation letter that I had prepared.

"Are you sure there is nothing we can do to persuade you to stay? You leaving will be a huge loss to our staff, the children here love working with you," Ms Tremont added. I smiled at her as she talked, and finally said, "There is nothing you can do because it has nothing to do with my job, this is just personal and I need to do this for myself. I don't want to tie you up, Ms Tremont. I know you have a meeting soon."

"Jessie, please call me Mallory. We have known each other for a few years now and since you will be leaving us, let's not be so formal. If you need anything from me, please don't hesitate to call. I do have to add that I hate that we are losing you." I walked over to shake her hand, "I will see you tomorrow when I return and I will start to notify the students on my caseload and their parents so they are aware of my departure."