9
One night, after Mark got out of the shower,
he wrapped his arms around me from behind,
his warm breath tickling my neck.
He nibbled on my ear, his hands were getting
familiar with my body, as he unbuttoned my
pajamas.
“Bailey, let’s have a baby,” he whispered.
fie:
4
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I grabbed his wandering hands, and turned to face him. “Mark,” I said flatly, “you’re
disgusting.”
Mark’s face went white and he stared at me
<
Mark’s face went white, and he stared at me,
speechless.
“Mark,” I said again, “I’m being serious, let’s
get a divorce.”
He had thought that if he pretended he didn’t
understand how serious I was about divorce,
that we could just go back to how we were.
But he had no idea how much things had
changed beneath the surface, how far gone
we were.
“Bailey…” he said, his voice shaking.
I sighed. We’d been together since we were
<
kids, known each other for 26 years, married
for four. And this was it, the end of the road
for us.
“Do you remember that fire in the backyard?”
I asked Mark.
“Yeah, the dry weather, and sparks from the
neighbor’s grill,” Mark responded.
“Actually, I started that fire.
I revealed the truth calmly.
His shocked look gave me a sense of relief,
like the past had been set free.
<
I was sentimental, from when we were kids,
and for the first four years of our marriage.
All of the presents he gave me, I had carefully
saved in a special room.
But then when he left me again for Amber,
and threw me aside, I decided that I would
take out all those things.
I’d asked the staff to bring a big metal pot,
and I’d set it up in the backyard.
I had lit a fire, and I started throwing gifts and pictures, one by one into the flames.
I must have been careless because the fire
L
C
- DE.
started to spread.
The backyard was filled with all sorts of plants and flowers, the fire was spreading
fast.
When I looked into the raging fire, I’d had this crazy thought, like going into the flames was some kind of way out.
If the staff hadn’t stopped me, and taken me somewhere safe, I probably would have died
in that fire.
