Love Becomes Her

“Matt!”

“Matthew? Your husband?” Stephanie asked.

Ellie nodded her head hard. “Don’t say his name.”

The three women looked at each other in confusion.

Barbara sat down next to Elizabeth. “Ell, just tell us what’s wrong. Maybe we can help.”

“No one can help me. No one.” She covered her face with her hands and cried harder.

“Oh, damn, she’s drunk,” Steph said.

“Oh, shut up. So are you.” Ann Marie patted Ellie’s knee a little harder.

“I know that.” Stephanie said with conviction. “What’s your excuse?”

“What!” Ann Marie tried to stand up and couldn’t. “You want a fat lip?”

“Who’s gonna give it to me, you?” Stephanie started to giggle. “Take off those damn high heels and I’ll just step over you and be done with it.” She laughed harder.

Barbara cringed. Ann Marie hated nothing more than to be taunted about her height.

Ann Marie snatched off her shoe quicker than a flash of lightning and raised it over her head ready to bean Stephanie. Not before Barbara, seeing disaster unfold, reached out for the shoe before it connected, but instead tumbled in a heap on the floor between the two would-be gladiators.

Seeing Barbara on the floor set them all off into a fit of near-hysterical laughter, until Ellie’s piercing voice broke through the cacophony.

“Have you all lost your mind? Doesn’t anyone care about my problem?”

The laughter stopped as abruptly as it started. Three sets of eyes rested on Ellie’s tear-streaked face.

“We would, but you won’t tell us what it is we’re supposed to care about,” Stephanie murmured.

Elizabeth looked from one concerned face to the next. She swallowed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Matthew wants a divorce.”

Barbara’s mouth opened and all she could say was her dear friend’s name.

Ann Marie whispered, “No,” then covered her mouth.

“Not you and Matt,” Stephanie muttered.

Barbara scrambled up off the floor and sat back next to Ellie. “What happened, Ell?”

Ann Marie sat up. “You bot’ seem so happy.”

“When did this happen?” Stephanie asked.

“This morning. Over breakfast.” She laughed. “Grits, eggs and homemade hash browns just the way he likes them.”

Barbara put her arm around Ellie’s shoulders and squeezed. “Ell, what did he say?”

Ellie drew in a breath. “He said…he can’t live with me anymore. He…doesn’t…love me anymore. He’s in love with someone else.”

“Matt?” Stephanie asked incredulously.

Ellie nodded.

“Who is she? ’Cause it sound to me like she need her arse whipped.”

“Ann Marie,” Barbara scolded. “That’s not going to solve anything.”

“Maybe not, but it would make me feel better.”

“Yeah, me, too,” Stephanie seconded.

“I’ve met her. Sweet young thing. Not much older than our daughter! Can you believe that? Oh God!” she wailed.

“Oh, girl, it’s probably just a fling. A midlife crisis or something. You know how men get. He’ll come to his senses,” Stephanie offered.

Ellie reached for her purse, tucked near the arm of the couch. She opened it and pulled out a thick set of folded papers. “Does this read like a midlife crisis to you?” She sniffed and shoved the papers toward her friends.

Barbara opened them up. It was a petition for divorce. She passed them to Ann Marie, who then handed them to Steph.

Ann Marie pushed up from the floor, crossed the room to where she’d left her purse on the table and pulled out her bottle of Courvoisier. She put the bottle under her arm and collected their glasses. She handed a glass to each one and began to pour. “We need a real drink after that.”

“You ain’t lying,” Stephanie said.

Barbara took a hearty sip that went straight from the pit of her stomach to her head. This really was serious.

Chapter 4

Silence hung over the quartet for a good five minutes as they worked on digesting the startling information that Elizabeth had shared. The only sounds were the wail of Miles Davis’s trumpet on the stereo and the steady beat of rain pounding against the windows.

Finally, Barbara found her voice. “Have you spoken with a lawyer, Ell?”

Elizabeth nodded. “This morning. Right after that bastard left for work.” She sniffed.

“What did your lawyer say?” Stephanie asked.

Elizabeth wiped her eyes to make room for more tears. “He said if I wanted to fight it I could and that basically I could get everything since he…he cheated on me!” she wailed. “I can’t believe it. I had that little hussy in my house.”

“Don’t worry about that now,” Ann Marie said. “Just take Matt—I mean that bastard’s bags and set them on the curb.”

“I don’t know if I even want to live there…too many memories.” She lowered her head.

“But you deserve that house. You put your heart and soul into it all these years. You stayed home so that he could pursue his degrees and his career. You raised your kids there. That’s your house,” Stephanie insisted.

“She’s right, Ell,” Barbara said. “And it’s worth a fortune. I wouldn’t give it up. Let him find someplace else to live.”