“Greta… I don’t want you beside me.”
A few pills slipped from my fingers and rolled across the floor.
“I don’t want you beside me.”
“What did you say?”
“I want a divorce, Greta.”
“We found out this morning that you’re dying, and you’re asking for a divorce?”
“I’m not asking.”
“Then look at me.”
Robert kept his eyes on the refrigerator.
“I want a divorce, Greta.”
“Look at me and say it, Robert!”
His jaw tightened, but he faced me.
“I don’t want you here.”
I searched his face.
“Is this fear talking?”
“No.”
“Then why are your hands shaking?”
“Is this fear talking?”
He shoved them into his pockets.
“I want to spend the time I have left with the person I love.”
My fingers closed around the pill.
“Who?”
“Claire.”
I laughed once.
“I want to spend the time I have left with the person I love.”
Not because it was funny, but because Claire had always seemed like an ordinary coworker.
“Your coworker?”
“She understands me, Greta. More than you.”
“I’ve known you since you owned one suit and thought canned soup counted as dinner.”
“Knowing my habits isn’t the same as knowing me.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“Long enough.”
“Your coworker?”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting, Greta.”
The front door opened.
“Mom? Dad?” Hanna, my daughter, called. “We brought groceries.”
She entered carrying two paper bags. Steven, my son, followed with bottled water.
They stopped when they saw the pills scattered near my feet.
“That isn’t an answer.”
“What happened?” Hanna asked.
Robert sat down and let his shoulders sag.
“I need to tell you something.”
“Robert,” I warned.
He looked at our children.
“Your mother can’t handle what’s coming.”
“What happened?”
Steven set down the water.
“What does that mean?”
“It means she wants a divorce.”
Hanna’s grocery bag slipped. An apple rolled across the floor and stopped beside the pill in my hand.
“That’s a lie!”
Robert rubbed his forehead.
“She said our marriage has been over for years.”
“What does that mean?”
“Stop talking, Robert!”
Hanna stared at me.
“Mom?”
“Your father just told me he wants to leave me for Claire.”
Robert closed his eyes.
“Please don’t make this harder, Greta.”
“Stop talking, Robert!”
“Harder?” I stepped toward him. “You told me you loved another woman, and now you’re making me explain your lie.”
Hanna moved beside him.
“Dad just told us it’s stage four. And now you want to leave?”
“I don’t want to leave. Your father does.”
Steven looked at Robert.
“Dad, did you ask Mom for the divorce?”
“I don’t want to leave.”
Robert said nothing.
That silence should’ve saved me.
Instead, Hanna reached for his hand. Nothing I said would make her believe me.
“How could you leave him now?” Hanna asked.
“I’m trying to stay!”
