Page 9 of Not Another Beach Read
"We're divorced?" I asked. This day was full of surprises, and they were just beginning. "Why don't you come in, and we'll try to get Frank on the phone right now so we can clear this up," I said. I invited her and the screaming baby into the foyer and gestured to the couch in the front room. As soon as she was seated with the baby on her lap, I excused myself to call Frank from the kitchen.
He answered on the third ring, and I'm sure he heard the baby crying in the background.
"Hey babe," he said. "Where are you?"
"I'm at home."
"Who's the baby crying in the background?"
What a jackass.
"I might ask you the same thing, Frank, because there's a woman here who claims this crying baby is yours, and she's looking for an insurance card."
It took me a moment or two to realize that he had hung up the phone. Not sure what to do about the woman and her child in my family room, I called Frank back and was sent directly to voicemail. But prince that he was, he texted me a moment later.
Frank: I can explain. I'm leaving work now, and I'll be home in fifteen minutes.
Which home might that be? Because apparently you and I are divorced. And you have a new child. Who is very sick, by the way, and needs medical attention.
I left it at that, figuring I'd rather get answers to my questions face to face than over a text, and I didn't need him driving while texting and distracted and putting other people in danger. I went to the family room and sat down on the loveseat across from where the woman sat cradling her crying baby.
"My name is Elyse," I said, "although you probably know that. And I'm sorry to say, I know nothing about you."
"My name is Francine," she said.
Frank and Francine. How adorable.
"Well, Francine. It sounds like Frank is going to be home here shortly, and we can get all this straightened out."
Frankwashome shortly, and we did manage to get things straightened out in as much as he shuffled Francine and her/their baby into their car and off to the local urgent care. When he returned alone four hours later, he wasn't the least bit contrite.
"You have quite a bit of explaining to do," I said to his back as he threw clothes into a duffel bag.
But I didn't get that explanation for years. I was left to wonder what had happened, even though I knew thewhy. He had been telling me all along that it wasn't a problem, it didn't matter that I couldn't give him a child. It took me until that moment to realize that it wasn't a problem because he had found someone to take care of that issue for him. Within thirty minutes, he was packed and moved out.
And I was left to pick up the pieces of my broken heart and shattered trust, both of which I thought I would never fully recover.
4
ELYSE
July, 2024
Paige and I arrived for our scheduled lunch at Cat's Bites at the same time and I pulled into a parking spot right next to her sunshine yellow Jeep in the library parking lot. I was happy to have the opportunity to see her face. She'd been so busy with the growing popularity of her writer's retreats and getting her book ready for publication that we hadn't seen each other in a few weeks, even at Tuesday morning ladies league.
I came around the back of my Audi and stood behind her as she grabbed her purse from the passenger seat. "How are you doing there, stranger?" I asked.
She turned around with a huge smile on her face. "Oh my gosh, Elyse, it is so good to see you. I'm so glad we were finally able to find some time to get together today."
We hugged, and after we separated, we walked through the parking lot toward the cafe.
Paige held the door open for me, and as I walked in, Cat's head popped up from the kitchen. She threw us a quick waveand pointed toward the booth in back where our group typically sat. Even though lunchtime at the cafe was hopping, Cat knew we were coming and the hostess walked us straight back to the table that was reserved for us. I threw my orange backpack down and sat at one end while Paige slid in across from me.
"So, tell me what you've had going on," she said as she arranged her napkin on her lap. Our nine-inch difference in height aside, Paige and I were a lot alike, especially when it came to food. For starters, neither of us wasted any time preparing to eat it.
"Okay, I'll start, and then you can catch me up on the retreat. From what I hear, things have been going pretty well."
"A lot of it is thanks to Jenna. She's been baking up a storm," said Paige. "Last week, she made her famous almond croissants, and that's all I heard about all weekend. They were disappearing from the kitchen left and right. She came back on Sunday with twelve wrapped up for my retreaters to take home. How sweet is that?"
