“Rory.” My name sounds harsh, as if she’s gritting her teeth. “Don’t do this. Not this week.”
“Jerry—”
“I don’t care about Jerry, and neither does Ruby. You promised, Rory. You promised our daughter that you’d take her tonight. It’s all she’s been talking about.”
“Can you listen to me for one minute, Gwen? Please?”
“Fine,” she huffs.
I sit taller in my chair, as if doing so will help me get my point across to Gwen. This is the part of my life that she doesn’t understand, and it’s the part that’s ruined my marriage. “Jerry moved his annual holiday party to tonight; otherwise, taking Ruby wouldn’t be a problem. He’s expecting us to show up, together. What do you say about asking my mom to take Ruby tonight, and you and I could go to the party?”
“You’re joking, right?”
“I would never joke about spending time with you.”
She laughs or maybe it’s a sneeze, I can’t be sure. “Let me understand you correctly. You want to cancel on your daughter so you can attend a party?”
“Noooo,” I say, dragging out the word. “I want us to go out, like husband and wife. It’s a cookie-decorating thing at church. Surely I can make it up to her.”
“You’re unbelievable, Rory.”
“What?” I ask dumbly. “You’ve always enjoyed the Gences’ parties.”
“Actually, I find his wife to be pretentious, their house over-decorated, and their yippy dogs extremely annoying.”
“Jerry’s eccentric.”
“Nice excuse for someone who is rude and condescending. The answer is no.” She pauses and mumbles something incoherently. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to Ruby.”
“You know, if he wasn’t such an important client, I wouldn’t be calling, but he is. You know this.” I can’t help the defensive tone in my voice. We’ve had this same conversation repeatedly, and it never solves anything.
“The only thing I know is that you can’t keep a promise to your own daughter, that you put this man and his money before everything.”
“His money is what pays for the life you have, Gwen.”
She scoffs. “There are other clients, other people who need to invest money, Rory. Jerry isn’t the be all that ends all in the financial world, and right now I don’t care. The only thing I care about is now I have to break it to Ruby that, once again, you’re choosing this man and his family over your own.”
“It’s not like that, Gwen,” I say, pinching the bridge of my nose. “I wish you could see the difference.”
“Well, I can’t, and I won’t until you see and admit that you’ve allowed this man to dictate our lives. That you’ve allowed your job to become between us when it didn’t have to. I know, Rory … I know you think this is how you provide for your family because it’s how your father did it, but we don’t live in a world like that anymore. Times have changed. I need my husband, and Ruby needs her father.”
She hangs up before I can even form the words needed to tell her that I completely understand, but that my hands are tied and that canceling on Ruby is the last thing I want to do.
I don’t know how long I sit there with the receiver dangling. I don’t seem to care about the annoying signal coming through my phone. And I definitely don’t care about the tears dripping from my eyes.
What I care about is that this is the first time I’ve cried since Gwen and I separated, and I want to know why. Am I so heartless that I can’t shed a tear when the woman I love asks me to move out? Am I missing some emotional element that lets me feel, or am I just numb to it all?
A knock on my office door startles me into action. I place the receiver back, wipe my face, and clear my throat before telling whoever’s on the other side to come in. Terence Sims steps in with his hand held up. He’s holding a manila envelope, and instantly my heart drops. The divorce is the last thing I want to deal with, especially tonight.
“Just thought I’d drop these by on my way home.” He sets the envelope on the corner of my desk and uses one index finger to slide it toward me.
“So kind of you,” I tell him. As soon as Terence starts to sit, I stand up and reach for my sport coat. “I was just leaving.”
“This will only take a minute. I highlighted the changes, and I just need your signature.”
Shaking my head, I slip into my coat and step into my galoshes. “Sorry, not tonight.”
“Rory, it’s our counter. It’d be best if Gwen’s attorney heard our argument sooner rather than later, and I’d really like to have the pages on his desk before I take vacation.”