Right With Me - Stacey Lewis Page 0,8

satisfied I have her full attention, I tell her in a low, serious voice, “I’m officially done.”

“Done?” she squeaks. “What do you mean, done?”

She’s asking the question, but she knows exactly what I mean. I’ll explain it to her though to make sure there is no misunderstanding. “I mean just that. I’m done. Done trying to keep you happy, done walking on eggshells to keep you from flying off the handle. Done staying in this relationship that does nothing but make me fucking miserable all the goddamn time.”

Saying the words makes me feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I should have done this a long damn time ago. Hailey was right. Staying in this relationship that makes us both unhappy isn’t good for us or Ben and Evie. All it does is show them that it’s okay for your partner to treat you like shit and I’m done doing that.

Tabitha sputters, not sure what to say. It’s been so long since I’ve stood up to her because I always try to keep the peace, but I’m done being a fucking pussy.

“B-b-but you can’t.”

She might think that, but she’s wrong. “The hell I can’t. I’ve stayed too long already.” A thought occurs to me and I ask the one question I’ve been wanting to ask for two years now. “Why would you even want to stay together, Tab? Neither of us is happy. Don’t you want a chance to find someone who will make you happy? We’re not good for each other, and staying in this relationship is slowly killing us both.” I’m not trying to be nasty. The anger I had towards her is gone, replaced by exhaustion and a desire to be finished with all of this.

Tabitha lifts her chin in a stubborn move I’ve seen way too often. I know when I see it I’m not going to get an answer, not a real one anyway.

“We could be happy again.”

I pull back from her in shock. “No, Tabitha, we can’t. Too much has happened for us to go back now.” Too many nights where she sat beside me on the couch playing games on her phone and ignoring my existence, too many times when she couldn’t do something as simple as stop at the store and pick something up or even be bothered to clean up the kitchen when I went to bed too sick to eat.

I’m tired of being the person to do everything for our family while she did whatever the hell she wanted. I don’t expect my wife to do all the cooking and all the cleaning, but damn, I expect us to both do the shit work so we can spend time enjoying each other.

Telling her all of this again is pointless. She won’t ever admit to any wrongdoing and if I try to explain she’ll just accuse me of attacking her.

I take another step back, and another, putting enough space between us there’s no danger of touching. I’ve touched Tabitha for the last time.

The only thing I have left to say to her is, “And as far as the kids go, if you try to leave with them, I’ll fight you every motherfucking step of the way. You can’t hold them over my head anymore. We all deserve more than this.”

After delivering my parting shot, I walk calmly out of the waiting room and am almost blindsided by Nick’s fist.

“What the hell did you do to her?” He shouts in my face and I snap.

All the rage I have pent up from the past two years explodes on him and I grab him by the neck of his shirt and shove him away from me before stalking after him.

“Where is she?”

Nick laughs. “Where do you think? She left, asshole. I don’t blame her either. What kind of asshole brings her into a closed-off room knowing his wife could show up at any moment? Why the fuck would you put her in that position.”

Now it’s Nick I’m pushing against the wall and getting far too close to in an attempt to make my point known. “Do not fuck with me right now, Nicholas. I don’t you an explanation, so I’m not telling you shit. What happened is between me and Hailey, so keep your ass out of it. I’ll tell her, and only her, what she needs to know.

“Good luck with that. You forget, Mitch, I saw how upset she was. I’m the one who took her home and watched