He Left Me Waiting for Three Years. So I Left Him Forever Chapter 08

He Left Me Waiting for Three Years. So I Left Him Forever Chapter 08

A month later, I received a call from Grandma’s number.

I hesitated before answering.

“Grandma? Is something wrong?”

“Claire, it’s me.”

It was Serena.

“What do you want?”

“Ethan was only trying to save me. You can’t treat him like this just because he was trying to save me.”

“I divorced him. Now he’s free to take care of you without having to answer to me. Isn’t that what you

wanted?”

“That’s not the same.”

“What’s different?”

“He still has Grandma to look after.”

“And he should. She’s his grandmother.”

“But you always took care of her before.”

I laughed.

“Exactly. She’s his grandmother, not mine.”

“This wasn’t supposed to happen. Everything’s gone wrong.” Frustration crept into her voice. “Did you say

something to him? He told me he wouldn’t go to any more of my follow–up appointments. He said he’d

already done more than enough for me.”

So that was the real reason she had called.

She wanted to demand answers from me.

She’d never had the right to do that, and she certainly didn’t have it now.

“If that’s all you called to say, then there’s no reason for us to keep talking.”

Her voice turned pitiful at once.

“Claire, please don’t hang up.”

“I’m begging you. Could you ask Ethan to come with me to the hospital?”

“My doctor said the results from my last appointment didn’t look good.”

“My latest tests suggest that my body may be rejecting the transplant. I’m scared to go

alone.”

I took a slow breath, too incredulous to do anything but laugh.

“Serena, Ethan and I are divorced. Whatever he chooses to do is between you and him.”

“But he blames me for your divorce.”

“Shouldn’t he?”

“I know I played some part in it, but that was all in the past. He doesn’t love me now. He only feels responsible for me.”

“Only responsible?”

Serena went quiet.

“He came home to you, didn’t he? And you were the woman he married.”

“He told me himself that having you in his life made him feel safe.”

Safe, not loved.

He felt safe knowing I would always clean up his messes.

Safe knowing I would take care of his grandmother while he devoted himself to Serena.

“How long are the two of you going to keep lying to yourselves?”

“If everything between you was so innocent, why did he tell me he was taking care of his sick mother?”

“Why didn’t he come home when I needed him?”

“What did it mean when he took you to meet his grandmother but never once took me?”

“You’re both hypocrites.”

Serena’s voice trembled.

“I never thought about it that way, and I never tried to interfere in your marriage. Nothing ever happened

between us.”

“The doctor said there was a ninety–nine percent chance of recurrence. I only needed Ethan for a little while.

What was so wrong with that?”

“How was I supposed to survive what came next without him?”

She wanted to live, and Ethan had generously sacrificed three years of his life to stay beside her.

They were both so selfless. So noble.

Apparently, I was the only villain in their story.

“Serena, Ethan and I will never get back together.”

“If you need him, you don’t need my permission.”

“Stop trying to guilt me into helping you. You know perfectly well that without Ethan, you and I would have no

reason to speak at all.”

Just before I ended the call, a note of triumph crept into Serena’s voice.

“Claire Bennett, you were the one who gave Ethan up. I didn’t steal him from you.”

“Ethan is such a good man. On the day you got married, all I did was tell him I needed him. I never expected him to leave everything behind and come to me without a second thought.”

“You’re right,” I said. “Every word.”

“He does have feelings for me. And since you don’t want him anymore, I’ll take him.”

I ended the call and looked across the endless Montana prairie.

Serena seemed both ridiculous and pitiful.

But whatever happened between them had nothing to do with me anymore.

I would live loudly, recklessly, and without apology, exactly as I had before I met Ethan.

That was who I had always been.