He Left Me in the Fire Chapter 02
Author: Sleepy Moon
A bolt of pain bored through me. My fingers shook, and the phone slipped from my hand.
By the time a nurse helped me pick it up, the call had long since disconnected.
In our message thread, there was only one message from Nathan.
“I have a scheduling conflict around your discharge. I’ll take you to meet my parents some other time.”
That afternoon, a nurse finished changing my bandages.
Believing I was asleep, a few nurses began whispering among themselves.
“Do you think that woman next door is sleeping with him?”
“Definitely. Did you see that tiny blister? If she’d arrived a day later, it would’ve healed on its own.”
“He’s falling all over himself worrying about her. I just heard them planning a ski trip to Aspen for next week.”
“That poor wife.”
My phone slipped from my hand again.
The lock-screen photo of Nathan kissing my forehead was spiderwebbed with cracks.
The room fell dead silent.
One nurse quickly picked up my phone, and they all shuffled out, nudging each other along.
Late that night, a cool sensation spread across my back.
Nathan was applying burn ointment for me.
“Asleep? No wonder you didn’t answer my texts.”
I picked up the cracked phone and looked at his message.
“Which Haagen-Dazs flavor is best?”
Four years ago, when we’d first gotten together, Nathan’s startup was strapped for cash.
I was working three jobs to help him save money when I scrolled past a post that read, “Women need to treat themselves once in a while.”
On a whim, I’d wanted some ice cream.
He knocked the first bite away so hard that the whole cup hit the floor, spilling ice cream everywhere.
Back then, Nathan had snapped at me.
“Serena, will you stop scrolling through that garbage!”
I crouched there, wiping the floor for half an hour.
But now, Nathan was offering me the first bite of ice cream himself.
I turned my head away.
Nathan’s wrist froze mid-air.
“I thought you liked it. The doctor said a little is fine.”
I brushed him off. “I’m cutting back on sugar.”
His voice went cold. “I’m stepping out.”
Ten minutes later, a new nurse came in on rounds. When she saw I was awake, she lowered her voice.
“The guy next door is over the top. He ordered more than forty cups of Haagen-Dazs for his girlfriend, every flavor they had.
“Whatever she couldn’t finish, he handed out to the nurses on shift.”
She pointed at the trash can.
“She said she hates mint chocolate chip, so that one’s yours, I guess.”
She added, almost as an afterthought.
“The Ashfords even had their missing daughter’s DNA profile circulated to hospitals across the state. That’s even more extreme.”
I texted Derek.
“I need another favor.”
At eight that evening, Nathan stormed in, his face dark.
He slapped a stack of papers onto the nightstand.
It was a share transfer agreement.
“If you need money, I’ll give you another ten percent of the company.
“We can’t afford to antagonize the Ashfords right now. Tomorrow, the company will cancel the transaction in your name.”
I answered without hesitation. “I don’t need money.”
He frowned. “All this because I forgot one doctor’s order? Seriously?”
I wanted to say I’d long stopped caring about that.
All I wanted was to cut every tie with him before I left.
Shares included.
But he scoffed first.
“Selling your shares just to make me chase you? Serena, is this your idea of playing hard to get?”
He slammed the door on his way out, and voices immediately carried through from next door.
Before, whenever we fought, I’d drag myself to him even with a fever and keep coaxing him until he calmed down.
But this time, I couldn’t even be bothered to speak.
Nathan spent half the night in Vivian’s room, but never once saw me come through the door.
The next morning, out of habit, I ordered two breakfasts.
As I ate oatmeal, Nathan strode in.
His expression was irritable.
“Serena, I’m craving your chicken-and-potato stew.”
