Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 69170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 346(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
I rolled over and turned my back, leaving Sheila to do her thing. At least she still had enough anger left for the both of us.
JOLENE
I spent the next week monitoring myself because I couldn’t quite believe the change in me. That first night after my revelation, I’d moved out of our bedroom and into the guest room. The house was mine anyway, so there was no need to squabble over semantics.
I went about my days and nights like he’d never existed in my world, and it got easier as the days went by. I was still expecting to have some kind of attack or something because it didn’t seem normal for a person to be able to just shut off their feelings like that, so I was starting to think that maybe I had a brain tumor.
They say a person’s whole personality can change when that happens, you know. But the doctor had laughed his ass off when I walked into his office that second day with my complaints.
That’s how I learned that everyone already knew about the affair and the divorce. Apparently, my ex hadn’t been as careful as he should’ve been when he was catting around, and tongues were wagging around town.
A day ago, that would’ve bothered me some, but all I did was shrug my shoulders with a nonchalance that I was really beginning to feel and left it at that. At least, the people who mentioned it to my face had the decency to call him out, but who knows what they were saying behind my back.
I thought for sure I’d be more bothered by what people were saying. But the truth is, I couldn't care less. I knew from the beginning that once the trust was broken, there was no way I could go back to the way things were.
But I thought for sure that after all these years, I’d linger and mope. Or, at the very least, spend my days reliving the past. Far from that, I’d spent a whole day removing every picture of us together, starting with our wedding portrait that used to hold center stage over the fireplace mantle in the living room.
The wall in the foyer now carried images of me and my children with not so much as his shadow. It didn’t take him long to notice, and he’d acted like I killed his firstborn.
That fool followed me around the house, ranting and raving like a lunatic while I watered my houseplants and ignored his dumb ass because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why he was so bothered.
I think that’s what really showed him that I was truly done, and he couldn’t stand it. I think he expected me to wallow in self-pity or some such thing or whatever it is he needed to feed his overblown ego. I wasn’t having it.
He got even more annoyed when I made dinner for myself and didn’t leave him so much as a crumb. I’m not sure why he thought I would still be cooking for him, not that I cooked; Cook made dinner, and she was the one who refused to make him anything or call and ask what he wanted when I chose something I know he hates. See, even the staff who have been here forever don’t want anything to do with him.
I’d given them some time off when things first started going haywire around here, but with everything settled except for the idiot judge who thought he could change my mind, there was no point in not going back to the way things were.
At least now they had less work to do with only me living here, and their pay wasn’t going to be affected at all because it’s not their fault my ex is a jackass. I’m sure that’s not the only reason they were choosing my side, though, because I’ve always treated them like family, and so have my kids.
Kevin, for some reason, didn’t seem to be doing too well with my new attitude, though, and apparently, I was to blame for all the wrongs in the world.
After his latest outburst, Sheila had reminded him of a few little truths that he seemed to have forgotten. For one, the fact that even though my grandparents had disowned Mom after she married Dad, they loved the ground I walked on, and if he forgot what that meant, as their only grandchild, I stood to inherit even more than he did.
That put a stop to his bullshit, but it didn’t stop him from moping around the house like a wounded bear for the rest of the day. Now, almost a week later, things hadn’t changed much on his end, not that I cared. I’ve been living as if he wasn’t even there, which is something I’ll have to get used to.