“This is Bella,” Kevin said, puffing out his chest, looking for all the world like a rooster taking credit for the sunrise. “She’s a model. She has 500,000 followers on Instagram. She gets invited to parties you couldn’t even get into as a waitress. We’re moving into the SkyView Penthouse tonight. The lease is in my name, but… well, let’s just say I need a woman who fits the aesthetic.”
I looked at Bella. She looked like the type of woman who thought “manual labor” was the President of Mexico.
“Kevin,” I said, shifting Leo to my other shoulder to support his heavy head. “I’m going to ask you this once. Are you sure? Because once you walk out that door, there is no coming back. The bridge doesn’t just burn; it explodes. And the fallout… it lasts forever.”
Kevin laughed. It was a cruel, dismissive sound that grated against my nerves. “Is that a threat? From you? What are you going to do, Sarah? Hit me with a wet wipe? Write a bad review on Yelp? Go back to your coupon clipping. It’s all you’re good for.”
He zipped up the suitcase with a sharp zzzzzt. He didn’t even look at Leo. He didn’t kiss his son’s forehead. He didn’t say goodbye. He just grabbed the handle of the bag, walked past me, and whistled a cheerful tune as he opened the front door.
“Have a nice life, Sarah. Try to do something interesting for once.”
The door clicked shut.
I stood there for a long moment in the silence of the hallway. Outside, I heard the aggressive revving of his leased BMW engine, followed by the squeal of tires as he peeled away toward his new life.
Leo cooed softly, reaching up with a tiny, chubby hand to grab a lock of my hair. I looked down into his dark eyes—eyes that looked so much like my father’s.
“Well, little man,” I whispered to him, my voice dropping an octave, losing the soft, subservient lilt I had perfected over three years of marriage. “Daddy thinks Mommy is boring.”
