Chapter 16
42%
Patricia called me late that night, waking me from a fitful sleep. I almost didn’t answer, but something in me still responded to the name “Mom” on my caller ID. She was the only person besides my parents who had my new number.
The conversation felt awkward, separated by what seemed like decades of silence
rather than months.
“Ethan went looking for you. Did you see him?” she asked cautiously.
I made a noncommittal sound of agreement, and she sighed with relief.
“I couldn’t stop him,” she said, her voice weary with the confession. “Since you left, he’s been like a different person.”
She explained how Ethan had hounded my parents for information about my whereabouts, showing up at their door at all hours, calling repeatedly, event following my mother to her yoga class.
Even when they refused to tell him, he hadn’t gotten angry or hostile. Instead, he’d started bringing up my name in casual conversation during their weekly dinners, testing for reactions.
“Do you think Liv would answer if I called?” he’d ask, or “I wonder if Liv still likes
those almond croissants from Bellini’s.”
Patricia said Ethan often asked to borrow her phone, scrolling through her contacts until he found my name.
When he discovered I’d blocked her number too, she said he’d sat in their living room all night, staring at nothing, a half–empty bottle of whiskey on the coffee
table.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” she continued. “Not even after his father… not even
then.”
There was a pause, the sound of ice clinking against glass–Patricia’s habitual evening scotch–before she dropped her bombshell.
“Liv, honey, won’t you just talk to him? He swears there’s nothing going on with
Kate. Never was.”
I held the phone away from my ear for a moment, gathering my thoughts. When I brought it back, she was still talking.
1/3
I–DOPM
MON IU MJI
16
42%
“…the restaurant, it was all for show. To make you jealous. I think. Or to force your Thandl. I don’t know why he thought that would work, but he’s not thinking clearly. Kate’s not pregnant. They staged it.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked, surprised by the steadiness in my voice. “Because my son is miserable,” she said simply “And think you are too.” “I’m not,” I said, and meant it. “For the first time myears, I’m actually happy.” “Olivia”
“I have to go,” I said, and ended the call..
I stood by my window, looking out at the sliver of ocean visible between the buildings, moonlight dancing on the waves. Once, what stood between Ethan and me was his hatred and my guilt. Now, the gulf between us was unbridgeable for al simpler reason: I no longer caned..
He had no power over me anymore!.
I slept surprisingly well after that caill, as if some final knot of tension had been released. When my alarm went off for my morning shift, I felt refreshed, ready to face the day.
I dressed in the pale blue sundhess Ild bought myself as a divorce present, applied a touch of mascara and lip gloss, and headed to work with a spring in my step.. The morning was busy with the usual crowd of before–work caffeine seekers..Illbst myself in the rhythm off in–grind, tamp, pull, steam, pour, smile, repeat.. The familiar dance that had become a comfort.
It wasn’t untill the much slowed around ten that I noticed her.
Kate sat in the commer, mursing a cooling latte, watching me. Her eyes were red- rimmed, her normally perfect hair pulled back in a messy ponytaill. When our eyes met, she stood up, gathering her courage visibly before approaching the aumen “You promised me. Lix,” she said, her voice breaking on my name..
