“I’m sorry, Vi. I’m having trouble wrapping my head around everything. I can’t imagine what it’s like for you.”
“It’s chaos and pain and everything twisted inside out and upside down. The love of my life literally flew across the world with another woman. The same one who ruined our marriage. I’m shredded inside like someone took a razor and sliced all my important parts to ribbons.”
“That was descriptive,” she teased. It was an attempt to bring me back out of the dark abyss I fell into after seeing the pictures and article about Ridge and Fiona. “Have you talked to him at all?”
“Not since he came home from his office that night.”
“Oh, Vi. I knew you said that before, but I figured things had to change at some point and you weren’t ready to talk to me about it.”
“The only change was that our divorce went through without us having to see one another and then days later, I saw pictures of him at the airport holding the bitch who ruined our marriage. And then they literally flew off into the sunset together.”
“Wait, you’re serious right now? You never spoke to him since the infamous birthday and the divorce is already finalized? How is that possible?”
All I could do was offer a nod in response because my throat felt too tight with emotion to get any words out. What words could ever properly convey how miserable my situation was?
“Oh sweetie, I’m so, so, sorry.” DD pulled me in for a side hug that turned into a snuggle. She must have been taking in my apartment as I continued to soak parts of her shirt with tears that seemed to never end. “Did you get nothing in the divorce?” she finally asked.
“The settlement was incredibly generous. Why?”
“No offense, but you’re living in a hovel compared to your previous house.”
Just when I thought I was out of tears again, another deluge started at the mention of my former house.
“Ridge sold it.”
“He sold what?” Before I could answer, she caught the pieces of conversation that had been interrupted by my crying jag and put them all together. “He sold your fucking house? The one you’ve lived in basically your entire marriage?”
“That’s the one,” I agreed.
“I need to sit down for this,” DD said.
“You’re already sitting.”
“Right,” she mentioned absently. “He really sold it?” When I gave a nod, she took my hands in hers and squeezed as she tried to shutter whatever emotion she thought was too much for me to see. “So, did he get the house in the divorce or did he have to sell to split the…?”
It took me a minute to answer. Long after her voice trailed off. “He got the house because I didn’t ask for it. I also didn’t imagine he would sell it. I got this apartment because it was supposed to be temporary. I thought that eventually I would be going home to our house once I figured out how to trust Ridge again. I was seriously unhappy with him for failing to keep his promises to me. I needed time to be able to get past it and figure out how to move forward.”
“So, you were playing some sort of game and lost?”
“No. I was hurt, betrayed, and shocked into a knee-jerk reaction when I filed for the divorce. After I did it and had time to think, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted for him to call, text, challenge the divorce at some point. I don’t understand. He never did. It was like I gave him an out that I didn’t realize he wanted all this time, and he ran with it.” My watery eyes lifted to meet Duri’s, and I felt the sadness there reflected back at me.
“He didn’t contest it at all. Then he sold our home. No questions, no contact, no nothing. He deposited the money into my account. It was our joint account, but he removed himself from it after dropping the money in it. That was one more blow. Then my lawyer came to tell me it was official. She dropped off the divorce decree and three days later, Ridge flew to Australia with Fiona.”
“So, what you’re telling me is that ever since that day, the hits kept coming and you never called me to be here for you?”
“I was waiting for the tide to change, for the world to right itself again. It’s like I got dropped into someone else’s life overnight. I don’t even recognize myself anymore, Duri. Was it all a lie? Did he fake it the whole time? I keep saying that and it feels like too weak a description. It’s not that I don’t understand. It’s like nothing feels real.”
“I wish I had answers for you, Vi. None of it makes sense to me either. You and Ridge and your crazy, effortless love were always the Gold Standard for relationship goals.” She leaned her head on my shoulder briefly. “I planned to come before I saw the pictures. I was going to make you guys meet face-to-face in the same space because I had a suspicion that it hadn’t happened yet, though I hoped I was wrong. Then, I saw those pictures and getting to you was my only goal. It is still so unbelievable that I can’t imagine a world without you two together in it. I would bet my soul that man loved you with the intensity of a thousand burning suns.”
“How does a man who does that end up flying to another country with the woman who broke us?” I shook off the thought. “Can we go out? I can’t sit here and speculate all the ways my life fell apart.”
“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, sweetie. Considering those pictures, I’m sure the media has gotten wind of your divorce by now and they’ll be looking for your reaction or explanation. Plus, you have a secret to hide now, and we don’t want to give them any fodder or any reason to stick around.”
“Now, not only am I living someone else’s life, a nightmare at that, but I’m a prisoner in my home unless I want to face the media asking questions I have no answers for. Great!”
“Maybe you can come stay with me for a bit. Getting away might help. We can wait a couple days and sneak you to my place.”
DD lived in downtown Atlanta while I lived in the suburbs around Clear Lake. It wasn’t that far in the grand scheme of things, but it might give me a couple days to work on a fresh outlook. I needed to do something with my time other than wallowing and crying because it couldn’t be healthy for the baby.
