Chapter 18 - The Phone Call
Seven years after the accidental phone call that ended my marriage, my phone rang while I was making dinner.
Liam.
For half a second, my body remembered.
The old anxiety.
The old suspicion.
Then I answered.
"Hey."
His voice shook.
"Emma."
"What happened?"
"Hailey's okay."
My heart resumed beating.
"Then what?"
"Diane had a heart attack."
Everything stopped.
We drove to the hospital.
Daniel came.
Robert was there.
Liam sat alone in the hallway.
When he saw me, he stood.
And suddenly we weren't ex-spouses.
We weren't betrayed wife and cheating husband.
We were two people who loved the same family.
I hugged him.
Diane survived.
Hours later, Liam and I sat beside a vending machine.
"Do you ever think about that first call?" he asked.
"Sometimes."
"I do."
He stared at his hands.
"If I'd hung up, how long would I have kept lying?"
I didn't answer.
Maybe months.
Maybe years.
Maybe forever.
He looked at me.
"That mistake destroyed my life."
I shook my head.
"No."
He looked surprised.
"The call didn't destroy your life."
I paused.
"It exposed it."
Liam looked down.
Then nodded.
"You're right."
The phone call hadn't created our problems.
May you like
It had simply turned on the light.
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