– Ava, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.
Tears welled up in her eyes so quickly that for a moment I thought I was seeing things wrong.
“You always do this. You always try to get close to me when no one is looking.”
The blood froze in my veins.
Daniel put down his grill tongs and approached us with a stern expression on his face.
– What happened?
“She pushed me,” Ava said.
“I didn’t do it,” I whispered. “Daniel, it was an accident.”
But he didn’t look at me like a husband.
He looked at me like a judge who had already passed judgment.
“Apologize to her,” he said coldly, “or leave.”
A warm wind blew through the yard.
Someone coughed.
Daniel’s mother looked down at the grass.
I looked at Ava.
Her chin lifted.
She waited.
Then I turned to Daniel.
– Do you really think I would push your daughter?
He was silent.
This silence told me everything.
I put the jug of lemonade on the table.
I took off the thin gold bracelet Daniel had given me for our first anniversary.
I placed it next to the jug.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “I’ll leave.”
And I left.
I didn’t shed a single tear.
When I got home, I didn’t pack in anger.
I packed carefully.
I gathered my documents, laptop, external hard drive from my desk, and the small black briefcase I had been hiding for eight months.
Then I called my lawyer.
– Renee?
– No?
– You can run anything.
There was silence on the other end.
– Are you sure?
I looked at the wedding photo standing on the dresser.
– No.
This time I was sure.
When Daniel and Ava returned home that evening, there was silence.
In the middle of the kitchen table lay a large white envelope.
Daniel noticed her immediately.
His name was on the envelope.
DANIEL.
No babe”.
Not “Dan”.
Not “My Husband.”
Simply:
Daniel.
He opened it.
There were three things inside.
Copy of the document relating to the initiation of legal proceedings.
Printed confirmations of transfers from our joint account to his private account.
And the contact information for my lawyer, Renee Caldwell.
Daniel’s expression changed before he even finished reading the second paragraph.
“Dad?” Ava asked.
He didn’t answer.
He continued reading.
And then he found the fourth document.
It was a summary of all the transfers he had made over the last two years.
Amounts.
Date.
Account numbers.
Names of recipients.
Daniel sat down.
Ava came closer.
