Chapter 8
“Absolutely not,” I said.
“Lindsey, she has my father’s things—”
“Exactly! That’s why you can’t go! She’s luring you there! She knows you’ll come running for that box! It’s a trap!”
“What choice do I have?” Ryan stood up, pacing the bedroom. “If I don’t go, she destroys it. Everything. The letter. The tags. The photo. Gone forever.”
“And if you do go? Who knows what she’ll do! She’s already proven she’ll do anything to get you alone! What if she calls the police and says you attacked her? What if she drugs you? What if she—”
I stopped.
I couldn’t say the words.
But Ryan knew what I was thinking.
What if she hurts you?
What if she never lets you leave?
“I have to go,” he said again. “But I won’t be alone. Not really.”
He pulled out his phone.
Tapped the screen.
“I’m calling my cousin, Jake. Remember Jake? He’s a cop in Chattanooga. He owes me a favor. He’ll follow me to Knoxville. Stay close. If anything goes wrong, he’s five minutes away.”
I hesitated.
Jake was a good guy.
Big.
Solid.
Ex-military.
If Diane tried anything, Jake would handle it.
“Promise me you’ll call me the second you leave her house.”
“I promise.”
“Promise me you won’t go inside. Make her meet you in a public place. A restaurant. A gas station. Anywhere but her sister’s house.”
Ryan nodded.
“Public place. I promise.”
The next morning, Ryan left at six.
Jake met him at a diner halfway.
I sat by the phone.
Every minute felt like an hour.
Noah was at school.
Buddy lay at my feet.
His head on my shoe.
Waiting.
At nine thirty, my phone rang.
Ryan.
I answered before the first ring finished.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. We’re at a Cracker Barrel on the interstate. She’s here. She brought the box. I can see it on the table.”
“Is Jake there?”
“Jake’s in the parking lot. In his truck. He can see everything through the window.”
I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding.
“Okay. Good. Get the box and leave. Don’t argue with her. Don’t let her get in your head. Just get it and go.”
“I will. I love you, Lindsey.”
“I love you too. Now go get your dad’s things.”
He hung up.
I paced the kitchen.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Why was it taking so long?
At twenty minutes, my phone rang again.
Ryan.
But when I answered, it wasn’t Ryan’s voice.
It was Diane.
And she was laughing.
“Hello, Lindsey. Thanks for sending him. It was just like old times. Mother and son. Catching up.”
My heart stopped.
“Where is he? What did you do?”
“Me? I didn’t do anything. He made his choice. Just like I knew he would.”
“What choice?”
There was a sound in the background.
A man’s voice.
Ryan.
He was saying something.
I couldn’t make out the words.
Then Diane spoke again.
“Tell her, Ryan. Tell your wife what you decided.”
Silence.
Then Ryan’s voice.
Quiet.
Broken.
“Lindsey… I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what? Ryan, what’s going on?”
“I’m staying here,” he said. “With Mom. For a while.”
The world tilted.
“What?”
“She’s sick, Lindsey. The doctor says she has six months. Maybe less. I can’t… I can’t leave her alone. Not now. Not after everything she’s done for me.”
I stared at the wall.
“Ryan. That is a lie. She is not sick. She is lying to you. Just like she lied about the dog. Just like she lied about the email. Just like she’s been lying for thirty years.”
“I saw the paperwork, Lindsey. The doctor’s notes. The test results. It’s real. She has cancer. Pancreatic. It’s everywhere.”
His voice cracked.
“I have to be here for her. She’s my mother. I can’t let her die alone.”
I felt the anger rise.
Hot and sharp.
“And what about us? What about Noah? What about your son who needs his father?”
“I’ll come back. I promise. Just… give me a few months. Until… until the end. And then we can be a family again. Just like before.”
“Before?” I laughed. It sounded hysterical. “There is no before, Ryan! Before was her stealing our money! Before was her giving away our dog! Before was her trying to destroy our marriage! There is no going back! It’s her or us! You have to choose!”
The line was quiet.
Then Diane’s voice again.
Soft.
Satisfied.
“He already chose, Lindsey. Now you need to accept it. And don’t bother calling the police. Ryan is here of his own free will. He’s a grown man. He can stay wherever he wants.”
She paused.
“Oh, and one more thing. The restraining order? Ryan dropped it this morning. He said it was all a misunderstanding. That you were… emotional. Overreacting. So I can come home whenever I want. Isn’t that right, Ryan?”
I waited.
Praying he’d deny it.
Scream.
Fight.
Anything.
But he said nothing.
“Goodbye, Lindsey,” Diane said. “Don’t call here again. Ryan needs to focus on his mother now. Not your drama.”
She hung up.
I stood there.
The phone in my hand.
Silence.
Dead silence.
He’d chosen her.
After everything.
After the dog.
After the money.
After the fake email.
After promising me we’d fight together.
He’d chosen her.
I slid down the kitchen wall until I was sitting on the floor.
Buddy crawled into my lap.
He licked my face.
Trying to make it better.
But nothing could make this better.
My husband was gone.
And Diane had won.
I don’t know how long I sat there.
An hour.
Maybe two.
Then I heard the school bus pull up.
Noah was home.
I wiped my face.
Stood up.
I had to be strong.
For him.
The front door opened.
“Mom? Dad said he was going to Knoxville today. Is he back yet?”
Noah walked into the kitchen.
Saw my face.
His smile faded.
“Mom? What’s wrong? Where’s Dad?”
I knelt down in front of him.
Took his hands.
“Noah, baby… Dad isn’t coming home right now.”
His eyes got big.
“What do you mean?”
“Grandma is sick. Very sick. And Dad… Dad decided to stay with her for a while. To take care of her.”
Noah’s face crumpled.
“He left us?”
“No, baby. Not forever. Just for a little while.”
“Did he leave because of me?”
The words broke me.
“Oh, Noah. No. Never. This has nothing to do with you. Nothing. This is between Dad and Grandma. It’s… complicated.”
He pulled his hands away.
“It’s not complicated,” he said. “He chose her. Again.”
He turned and ran up the stairs.
I heard his bedroom door slam.
I didn’t follow.
I couldn’t.
I was too broken myself.
That night, I lay in our bed.
Alone.
The sheets still smelled like Ryan.
I stared at the ceiling.
Replaying the phone call in my head.
The doctor’s notes.
The test results.
Six months.
It was the perfect lie.
Because what kind of son abandons his dying mother?
What kind of wife asks him to?
Diane had played us perfectly.
She’d given Ryan the one excuse he could never refuse.
And he’d taken it.
Because deep down, that scared twelve-year-old was still there.
Still desperate for his mother’s love.
Still terrified of her silence.
I reached over to Ryan’s side of the bed.
His pillow was still there.
I picked it up.
Held it to my face.
And I cried.
For Ryan.
For Noah.
For the family we’d almost been.
And then I stopped.
Wiped my eyes.
Sat up.
No.
This was not how it ended.
Diane wanted me to give up.
Wanted me to lie down and cry while she took my husband.
Wanted me to be the bitter ex-wife who badmouthed her to Noah.
But I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction.
I was going to fight.
Not for Ryan.
Not anymore.
For Noah.
For me.
For the truth.
Diane said she had cancer.
Fine.
I’d prove she didn’t.
I’d prove every single thing she’d ever said was a lie.
And when Ryan finally saw the truth?
When he finally realized he’d been played?
Well.
That would be on him.
But I was going to make sure he knew.
One way or another.
I got out of bed.
Went to the office.
May you like
Opened my laptop.
And I started digging.
