After I Gave My Husband Away, He Begged Me to Stay Chapter 11
Near the end of the year, I got added to a group chat with my old college roommates.
Megan had created it.
There were only four people in the group.
The four of us had shared a dorm room in college.
The other two had lived out of state for years.
Megan sent a long series of messages.
[I want to apologize to Claire.]
[Ethan keeps pushing me to file for divorce.]
II said I would do it over winter break, but everyone in Noah’s class knows Ethan as his dad now, and the school records list us as a blended family.]
【My mom says we should at least wait until the school year ends.)
[I’m really not trying to keep him.)
One of our old roommates asked:
[So you still haven’t filed?)
Megan:
[No.】
The other roommate wrote:
[Wasn’t Claire’s wedding supposed to be in August? Did you ask her before you married Ethan?]
The group went quiet for several minutes.
Megan:
[I thought Ethan would tell her.)
I stared at that sentence.
When Megan broke up with her ex in college, I had been the one who helped her move out.
She had crouched in the hallway crying, saying the thing she hated most was being lied to.
I sat with her until two in the morning that night.
I even lent her money from the scholarship I’d just received so she could cover the security deposit.
Now she was telling me she’d assumed someone else would.
I left the group chat.
Less than a minute later, Megan messaged me privately.
[You won’t even yell at me anymore?]
I did not reply.
She sent another message:
[This hurts more than if you’d screamed at me.]
I deleted her contact.
The next day, one of the other roommates called me.
“She cried all night.”
“Okay.”
“You really aren’t going to forgive her?”
“Did you call to convince me to?”
“No.”
She answered quickly.
“I just think the whole thing is insane.”
“Everyone in our dorm knew you two were inseparable.”
“When another woman got between her and her ex, Megan spent six months calling her every
name in the book.”
“How does she turn around and do the same thing?”
I snapped the lid onto my coffee.
“Because she doesn’t think it counts.”
“Doesn’t count?”
“It was for her kid.”
The other end went quiet for a while.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you okay now?”
“Busy.”
“I heard you got promoted?”
“Yeah.”
“Good.”
She did not try to persuade me again.
Before the holidays, Ethan and Megan tried to file for divorce for the first time.
It didn’t happen.
I found out because Ryan emailed me.
I had blocked his number and texts, so he started sending messages to my work email.
The subject line said:
(One thing. Then I’ll leave you alone.)
The body was three lines.
[They went to file the divorce paperwork.]
[Megan backed out at the last minute. She said Noah had just gotten used to having a complete family and she wants to wait until summer.]
Ethan argued with her right there.]
I deleted it.
Two weeks later, another email.
【Diane doesn’t want them divorcing right away now either. She says she’s gotten attached to
Noah.]
Deleted.
March.
[Ethan moved out.]
April.
[Megan filed a claim over the education expenses they paid while married and wants Ethan to
cover part of them.]
I read that one while Grant and I were out for a late–night meal.
He pushed the plate of wings toward me.
“Work email?”
“Spam.”