One Phone Call Talked Me Out of My Own Marriage Chapter 01

One Phone Call Talked Me Out of My Own Marriage Chapter 01

When I found out about Elise Harper, I didn’t argue with my husband, Landon Prescott. I simply handed him the divorce papers.

He sat there with his head bowed. After a brief internal struggle, he tore them in half.

“Ten days. Give me ten days, and I’ll send Elise somewhere far away. She’ll never appear in our lives again.”

Without waiting for my answer, he turned and walked out of the house.

During the days that followed, Landon took her whitewater rafting, climbing in the snow-covered mountains, bungee jumping, and skydiving, chasing every thrill they could find.

They watched the sunrise by the ocean and prayed together at a secluded seaside chapel, indulging in every romantic experience imaginable.

On the ninth night, after I had packed all my belongings, I unexpectedly received a video call from myself ten years in the past.

“You really are me ten years from now!”

Her bright, carefree face lit up with excitement.

“So Landon and I are married by then, right? Do we have kids?”

Bitterness tightened in my chest as I walked onto the balcony.

I pointed the camera down at Landon and Elise, locked in a tight embrace as if neither could bear to let go.

“This is where we ended up,” I said.

Her eyes widened, and she stared at the screen as if she’d been struck.

“That’s impossible…”

All the strength seemed to drain from my voice.

“Rena, please. Don’t marry him.”

***

Tears streamed down her face as she whispered over and over, “How could this happen…?”

I couldn’t answer her because I didn’t know either.

All I could say was, “You won’t be happy if you marry him. Rena, please promise me you won’t.”

She wiped away her tears and looked at me with red-rimmed eyes.

“But he isn’t here right now. He went into the Blue Ridge Mountains to find that reclusive doctor who might be able to treat me.”

I froze.

Of course. I had almost forgotten.

At that point in my life, both my legs had been badly injured in a stage accident. I could barely stand, much less walk.

Landon had been even more devastated than I was. He stayed beside me night after night, changing my dressings and massaging my legs until morning.

Then we heard about a reclusive physician living deep in the mountains who might be able to help me, and Landon left without hesitation.

He stayed outside the doctor’s cabin for three days and three nights without food or water, refusing to leave despite his swollen legs until the doctor finally agreed to treat me.

But now…

I unconsciously ran a hand over my legs. They had healed, but somewhere along the way, Landon and I had fallen apart.

The cruelest irony was yet to come.

“Do you know who the girl downstairs is?”

She shook her head, her eyes red and swollen from crying.

I gave her a pained smile.

“She’s that doctor’s granddaughter.”

Her breath caught. She covered her mouth as a sob escaped her.

“So Lan—” She stopped herself and tried again. “So Landon Prescott fell in love with someone else while he was trying to save me?”

I shook my head.

“I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t love back then. They met again three years ago, which would be seven years from where you are now.”

Silence settled between us.

Just then, I heard the front door’s keypad lock click open.

Without thinking, I hid my phone behind my back.

Landon glanced at me, his gaze lingering on the hand hidden behind my back, but he didn’t ask what I was hiding. His eyes were red, and he looked utterly drained.

“Are you satisfied now?”

His mouth twisted into a bitter smile.

“I sent her away.”

I stared at him without expression, even as my fingernails dug painfully into my palm behind my back.

“Satisfied?”

“Landon, is this marriage mine alone? Am I the only one who’s supposed to fight for it?”

He yanked off his tie and tossed it onto the couch.

“Stop being unreasonable.”

Then he shouldered past me, disappeared into the bathroom, and slammed the door.

My entire body went rigid.

Only after a long silence did I bring the phone back in front of me.

The younger Serena was already crying uncontrollably.

“That isn’t the Landon I know,” she whispered. “It can’t be.”

I couldn’t cry.

I wanted to break down the way she had, but no matter how many times I blinked, not a single tear came. My eyes only burned from the dryness.

“Maybe people just change.”

I picked up my luggage and prepared to leave, but thunder suddenly rolled outside, followed by a torrential downpour.

A flight cancellation alert appeared on my phone a moment later.

I sighed. Apparently, I wasn’t going anywhere tonight.

I carried my luggage to the guest bedroom and opened the door.

“Are you two sleeping in separate rooms now?” she asked carefully.

My hand froze on the suitcase handle.

I quickly masked the bitterness in my expression.

“Yes. It’s been almost a year.”

She began crying again.

“But the Landon I know can’t even fall asleep unless he’s holding me.”

My expression wavered.

So much time had passed that I had nearly forgotten.

Landon used to suffer from severe insomnia. He could only sleep peacefully beside me, so we had never spent a single night apart.

I lowered my voice.

“He found someone else who could help him sleep. Elise is a gifted physician.”

A long time passed before the younger Serena finally looked at me again, her eyes still red.

“Give me two more days. Landon will be back by then. Let me use those last two days to give up on him for good.”

I nodded.

“All right.”