Jerry’s eyes bored holes into her, silently pleading with her to believe him. Fool that she was, she did. “I know.”
“If you knew that, then why’d you run off without so much as leaving me a note? I didn’t know what the hell happened to you.” His words were full of anger and accusation. “Edna was the one who said she saw you get in a taxi.”
Edna, the neighborhood busybody. Her tongue must really be wagging now.
How it must have hurt Jerry’s pride to seek out their nosy neighbor for information. To her credit, Sharon hadn’t purposely gone without leaving him a note. She regretted that, but a note wasn’t the only thing she’d forgotten.
“It was a taxi driver who told me he’d taken you to the airport,” Jerry added. “From there it wasn’t difficult to figure out where you’d gone. What was I to think? I come home to an empty house with no note, only to discover from the neighbor that you’d left me.”
“I want a divorce.” Some might fault her timing, but it needed to be said, and the sooner the better.
Jerry looked as if she’d pulled out a handgun, aimed, and fired. He opened his mouth and closed it twice. “A divorce?” he echoed, exhaling sharply. “You want a divorce.”
“Don’t try to tell me this is a surprise. What did you think? That I enjoy living with this constant tension, with this continual battle of wills? We’re both miserable, and I can see no reason to continue with this farce of a marriage.”
He blinked as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Sharon realized her words had been abrupt and harsh. “You don’t know how much this saddens me, Jerry,” she whispered, lowering her gaze to her clenched hands. “It isn’t that I blame you or even myself, but we aren’t the same people we used to be. Things change. People change.”
“If this has to do with my having lunch with Maggie…”
“It doesn’t,” she assured him, realizing he was looking for something to pinpoint.
“That’s not it?” He furrowed his brow. “But I thought, I mean, I realize it must have been a shock…”
“We haven’t made love in months.” She laughed shortly, a bit hysterically. “We don’t even sleep together any longer. You cook your meals, I cook mine.” As far as she could see, it was only a matter of time before he reached the same conclusion. “We seem to be constantly at odds. It isn’t that you’ve done anything wrong, or that I haven’t been a good wife.”
“You want this, Sharon?”
She didn’t. Had never dreamed that this calamity would befall them. She’d assumed their marriage was safe. They’d lived, loved, and grieved together, but somewhere along the way they’d stopped trying, stopped communicating. He had an entire life that had nothing to do with her, and the same applied to her.
That this would happen to them now was one of life’s cruel jokes; only she wasn’t laughing, and neither was Jerry. She hadn’t reached the decision lightly. This was quite possibly the most difficult thing she’d ever done, with the exception of burying her daughter.
“I know you’ve tried to make this work,” she said, avoiding his question. “So have I.”
“Is a divorce what you want?” he asked again, a bit louder.
She remembered the way her heart had leapt when she saw that he’d come for her, and she buried that small shred of joy in the deepest part of her soul.
“Do you?” he pressed, his gaze holding hers.
“Yes,” she whispered brokenly.
Jerry sagged against the back of the chair. “I never thought this would happen to us.”
“Me either,” she admitted sadly.
“Do you have an attorney yet?”
She shook her head. “I want this to be as amicable as possible.”
He nodded. “It’ll take work on both our parts.”
It hurt that he was so damned agreeable. While it was true she was the one who’d asked for the divorce, she’d hoped he’d fight to save their marriage. Her pride would have preferred for him to put up some resistance, even if it was only token. After a forty-year investment one would think he’d want to try harder.
At first she’d prayed he wouldn’t. It would be easier on both of them if he accepted her decision calmly. The reality of that was quite different. Sharon was grateful she was seated. His fine-if-this-is-what-you-want attitude left her feeling as if the rug had been pulled out from under her. Her emotions spiraled downward, crashing, taking what remained of her pride.