I Needed to Talk to You

A flash one. I knew I could not do it in 750 words, but I managed to keep it under 1000!

It took Andrew almost an hour to calm down before he could hit the road home. He had not expected to receive such news that afternoon. He was not looking forward to spilling the beans to his wife and then to his daughter. At eight, she would understand everything.

He had no clue how things would go. Things had been strained at home for a few weeks, and Andrew felt his news would be like the wild card in an already losing game.

The house was eerily quiet for the late afternoon of the last day of the schoolyear. His wife Anne was sitting in the living room with a glass of wine and some papers on the couch beside her.

"Hey. How come is it so quiet, Honey? Where's Oli?"

"She's at my Mom's place. I'll pick her up later, after our conversation," she replied.

Andrew was at a loss. She could not possibly know already...?

"There's no easy way to break it, Andrew, so I'll just say it. I've met another man, and I'm madly in love with him. I'm leaving on a trip for a month with him tonight. We're bringing Olivia. We told her she would swim in the ocean. She's ecstatic."

"WHAT!?!?"

"The divorce papers are here. I will get sole custody of Olivia. I know it's not easy to hear, but this coming month will allow you to make a cleaner cut. You will be officially served tomorrow. We can discuss the details when I return."

She stood up and walked to the front door.

"Wait, I want to see my daughter!?"

"Andrew, Michael and I have decided that it would be easier on Olivia if you didn't, as a matter of fact. We told her that maybe you would join us during the trip if you can take some time off at work, so she doesn't really expect it. Hopefully, she will stop thinking about it after a few days."

"There is no way you will do that! I'm calling 911 right away and I'll tell them you're abducting our child!"

"Don't make a fool of yourself, Andrew. Michael is a powerful lawyer, with an unbelievable network. All this has already been covered. Just accept the new reality, Honey. Michael says it will make things easier for everybody."

"Anne, there's something I learned today that I must tell you now. It's a game changer, believe me!" Andrew's throat was so tense he could barely breathe.

"Oh, I'm sure it's very important, Andrew, but believe me, it can wait until I'm back, ok? Bye now. The driver is waiting."

"I'm dying, Anne!!!" he shouted as she walked out.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Andrew, you'll survive!" She got into a strange car awaiting her, and in ten seconds, she was gone.

Andrew tried to call her, but she had left her cell phone on her bedside table. He then tried to call his mother-in-law to talk to Olivia, but he got no answer. He called 911 to report a case of parental abduction. Two cops showed up to take his deposition. They told him he would hear from them within 24 hours.

He heard nothing that evening. He crashed on the couch way past midnight.

Andrew woke up with a splitting headache the next day. In the afternoon, the police had nothing to report yet, but Andrew received a text message from a strange number. The message contained a picture of Olivia, Anne and a man he did not know. All of them were on a beach. A real family picture, but with another father...

That was it. Game over.

***

Anne was happy to be back home, after a fantastic but exhausting trip. She was surprised but relieved to see that Andrew was not around. The house actually looked like nobody had been there for a while. The divorce papers and her glass of wine were still exactly where she had left them a month before. There was an unopened manilla envelope on the loveseat. But what intrigued her the most was that all of Andrew's clothes and personal effects were still in their bedroom or in his home office.

Seeing that her father was not at home, Olivia got went to see her best friend who lived across the street. Anne plugged her phone to recharge it after a month of inactivity and saw that there were several calls from a local phone number she didn't know. That could wait. She had a truckload of laundry to do.

She was about to leave to run some errands when her phone rang.

"Mrs. Anne Coleman?"

"Yes, that's me."

"My name is Krystin Ryerson from Belleview Palliative Care Unit. We've tried to contact you a few times today. Ma'am, it's my sad duty to inform you that your husband Andrew passed away early this morning."

"WHAT?!? What the hell?! Palliative Care? Is this a joke? Cause it's NOT funny!!"

"Mrs. Coleman, I was informed your husband never got to tell you that he had a brutally aggressive glioblastoma, a terminal form of brain cancer."

Anne did not hear anything Mrs. Ryerson said after that. She sat on the couch, completely thunderstruck.

The doorbell rang a few minutes later.

"Are you Mrs. Anne Coleman?" asked the young woman.

"Yes..." Anne replied, hesitantly.

"A letter for you, Ma'am. You may contact Mr. Robert Horton, attorney at law, if you have any questions. His business card is in the envelope. Have a nice day."

Anne opened the letter with trembling hands.

Anne, thank you so much for having let me say goodbye to Olivia. Do not worry, I have left things for her. In time, she'll know what you did and what kind of father you replaced me with.

Andrew