After Twenty-Five Stolen Anniversaries

I wasn't going to wait in the studio for Gareth to come back like a fool.

I could call my own car. There was no reason to wait for him.

I called an Uber and went straight back to our home in Queen Anne.

Gareth didn't get home until two hours after I did.

The moment he walked in, his face dark with anger, he yelled, “Fiona, didn’t I tell you to wait for me? I went all the way back to get you and got soaked for nothing!”

I put down my cup of hot water and retorted, “How far away does she live? It took you two hours.”

Hearing this, a flicker of guilt appeared in his eyes, and he immediately changed the subject.

“Get me some hot lemon honey water and some cold medicine. And take my wet clothes to the dryer.”

I noticed his cashmere sweater was soaked, clinging to his frame.

He took off his clothes and threw them directly at my feet.

In the past, I had always tolerated his arrogant way of ordering me around like a maid. I did it because I saw it as my duty as a housewife, especially since he was the family’s breadwinner and the source of our “social reputation.”

Over time, I had gotten used to serving his every need.

But now, I just felt utterly disgusted.

I ignored the dirty clothes at my feet and pressed on. “Shouldn't you be explaining that photo album now?”

He clearly hadn't expected me, always so docile, to keep pushing the issue. He furrowed his brow and began to lecture me in the tone of a professor scolding a student.

“We were forced to separate back then. She came back to me, but considering Caleb and this family's reputation, I didn’t divorce you. We just wanted to fulfill a dream from our youth. We’re at this age now; can’t you be mature enough to just turn a blind eye?”

I listened to his absurd excuses, looking at him with a desolate expression.

For the first time in our twenty-five-year marriage, I was examining our relationship so starkly.

He claimed he didn’t divorce me for Caleb’s sake and for the family's “reputation.”

And he was right. His meals were cooked. I did his laundry, cleaned the house, tended the garden…

I handled everything. I went from a gallery assistant with a promising future to a housewife whose life revolved around him, and now, a fifty-year-old woman.

I sighed, suddenly feeling a heavy exhaustion. I didn't want to argue with him anymore.

“Wash your own clothes. I'm tired. I'm going to bed.”

My firm tone only enraged Gareth, who was already irritable from the rain.

He muttered “unreasonable” under his breath, then picked up the clothes from the floor and stormed off to the laundry room.

He sneezed, then yelled from the laundry room, complaining about how to use the dryer.

I lay in bed and didn't answer him.

After a while, I heard the dryer running.

Then, Gareth came out of the laundry room with a grim face and started rummaging through drawers and closets.

“Where's my robe? Where did you put it?”

I rolled over again, ignoring him.

The tension in the room was a taut wire, ready to snap.

Finally, Gareth couldn't take it anymore.

He grabbed a book from the nightstand and threw it hard onto the bed. His voice was hoarse as he roared, “I've already explained everything to you, so why are you still acting like this? Can't we just live our lives in peace anymore?”

The hard corner of the book landed right on a cut on my forehead from earlier that day, still unhealed.

I hissed in pain.

Gareth froze for a moment, then walked over, looking somewhat flustered.

“When did you get hurt? I didn't even notice…”

From the moment we saw each other today, all his attention had been on the photo album and Genevieve. It was impossible for him to have noticed my injury.

I studied his expression for a long time.

When I was young, I was drawn to his talent and good looks, and I ended up marrying him.

Marriage… you can never be sure what you'll get out of it.

My tone was calm, but my heart felt hollow.

“If we can't live peacefully anymore, then maybe we shouldn't live together at all.”

The moment the words left my lips, I realized that any feeling I’d had for Gareth had vanished.