I Took His Own Radio Advice And Walked Away From Seven Years Chapter 02

I Took His Own Radio Advice And Walked Away From Seven Years Chapter 02

The next morning, I returned to the house we were supposed to share after the wedding and packed the rest of my things. I had just put my documents into my suitcase when I heard luggage wheels outside. Ethan came in with Tara.

“Her apartment still isn’t livable. She’s going to use the guest room for a few days.”

The guest room was full of wedding favors, invitations, and welcome gifts. Without asking me, Ethan moved everything into the storage room. A stack of invitations slid to the floor. Tara stepped backward, planting her shoe directly on our names.

“Claire, I’m sorry. I didn’t see them.”

She lifted her foot, leaving a gray mark across the gold lettering. Ethan picked up the invitations and tossed them back into the box.

“We’ll reprint them. They’re just paper.”

Tara walked to the entry closet, pulled a pair of pink slippers from the bottom shelf, then opened the sideboard and took out her own mug.

“You’ve stayed here before?” I asked.

Tara pressed her lips together.

“When you were out of town, sometimes our tapings ran late. Ethan worried about me going home alone, so he let me stay here a few times.”

Ethan was making the bed for her. He didn’t even look up.

“She only stayed a few nights. I don’t have to report every little thing to you.”

I stood there in stunned silence. Anyone walking in would have assumed they were the couple who lived here. Tara took two photo albums from her suitcase.

“Ethan, I brought the pictures for the anniversary event.”

They sat on the rug and flipped through them together. Their first show. Their first award. Every celebration. They remembered all of it. Ethan and I had been together for seven years, yet we barely had a handful of decent pictures.

He always claimed he hated having his photo taken. But he and Tara had filled two entire albums. Tara stopped at a birthday picture and laughed.

“This was my anniversary at the station. You ordered the cake a week ahead of time and pretended the production team had bought it.”

The date in the corner was my birthday the previous year. That night, Ethan had told me Tara was distraught over a breakup and might do something reckless. I had sat alone in a restaurant until closing. In the picture, Tara wore a paper crown while Ethan stood behind her, lighting the candles on her cake. My eyes burned as I stared at it.

“So you ordered the cake.”

Ethan pulled the photo out of my hand.

“It was a long time ago. Why drag it up now?”

Another picture slipped from the album. It had been taken the night I was hospitalized. The timestamp read ten o’clock. The regional broadcasting awards had ended at eight. Seven missed calls from the hospital were logged on his phone. He had seen every one. Tara gave an easy laugh.

“I told you to go check on Claire that night. You said she had doctors looking after her and would be fine.”

My hands went cold. Ethan frowned and shoved the photo back into the album.

“You were fine in the end, weren’t you?”

“She had just gotten a huge career break. I couldn’t walk out on the best night of her life.”

Every bit of care I had begged for, he had given Tara without hesitation. When she closed the album, a black digital recorder rolled to my feet. The message I had engraved on the back was still there.

[May the whole world hear your voice.]

I had bought it with three months of pay when Ethan landed his first hosting job. Two years ago, he told me he had lost it during an interview. I had searched the entire house and blamed myself for not taking better care of it. Tara picked it up and held it out to me.

“I didn’t realize it was from you. If you want it back, Claire, you can have it.”

Ethan took it before I could and placed it back in her hand.

“You don’t take back a gift after you’ve given it away. Don’t make it sound as if she stole something from you.”

I slowly lowered my hand.

“Keep it.”

If something dirty was returned to me, I would only throw it away.

That went for the recorder.

And for Ethan too.

When I returned to the bedroom, a reply from the Bayport crew was waiting.

The executive producer replied: [The position is still open, but we’d need you to start within three days.]

I accepted the offer and bought a one-way ticket. Ethan knocked on the door.

“Tomorrow night is the show’s fifth-anniversary live event. The sponsor expects us to bring our partners. You already said you’d come, so don’t be late.”