He didn't leave that night.
Instead, he snapped.
He grabbed the edge of the dining table and flipped the whole thing over.
That table had been set for our tenth wedding anniversary. Brian had spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen preparing every dish himself.
Not a single bite had been touched.
And now—
A sharp, cascading crash of porcelain and glass.
An entire spread of food became wreckage on the floor.
"Why?" His voice cracked. "Why did we end up like this?"
"Eleanor, I know I cheated. I know I made a mistake!"
"But isn't all of that in the past?"
"Why do you insist on tormenting me like this?"
I pressed a hand to my chest. My face was flushed a deep, burning red, and yet I found myself looking at Brian Delgado with something close to amusement.
I was tormenting him?
He was the one who'd put me through hell for six straight years.
The moment I found out about Brian's first affair, I asked for a divorce.
He panicked completely.
He dropped to his knees and swore to me that he would cut Joan Henson out of his life for good.
He scrubbed his social media clean. Every last trace of the other woman, gone.
He even changed his profile banner to our wedding photo.
With tears in his eyes, he gathered up every cheap little trinket Joan had ever given him, shoved them all into a box, and threw it away.
But our finances were tangled too deep.
Even if I divorced him, I'd walk away with nothing.
And why should I be the one who left empty-handed?
So after all the back and forth, we got back together.
On the surface, we looked like the same couple we'd always been.
But only the two of us knew the truth. Once a crack exists, it can never be repaired.
The marriage had been hollow for a long time.
I thought we could at least keep up appearances a while longer.
Then last month happened.
He and Joan, drunk again, rekindled everything in a hotel room.
"Eleanor, take a good look. What exactly do you think you have that can compete with me?"
Three in the morning.
Joan had video-called me specifically to gloat.
"Your husband swore up and down he was coming back to his family. Said you were the only one in his heart. And so what?"
"All I had to do was crook my finger, and he came running right back to my bed."
When I found out he'd cheated again, I didn't cry or scream the way I used to. There was no hysteria.
I simply picked up the phone, calm as anything.