Walking Out On My Husband Chapter 04

Walking Out On My Husband Chapter 04

I didn’t open them right away. Instead, I found Mom a set of pajamas.

“Go take a shower. Lock the door.”

She took them. Nodded quietly.

When I came out for water, I heard loud laughter from the master bedroom. A man and a woman.

I walked over and pushed down on the handle, hard.

Click. The door didn’t budge. It was locked.

Inside, everything went silent. Then rustling.

When it finally went quiet, Julian opened the door.

Lily stepped out from behind him.

Her face was flushed. Eyes glistening.

“Chloe, I didn’t have a change of clothes, so I came to try on some of yours.”

I didn’t understand why trying on clothes required Julian to be in the room. Or why the door had to be locked.

Lily’s voice was soft and sweet. But her eyes were locked on mine, unblinking. Like she didn’t want to miss a single reaction.

It sounded like an explanation. It was a provocation.

Julian cleared his throat and told Lily to go to bed.

After she left, Julian pulled me into the bedroom. He casually handed me his phone.

“Chloe, I already bought Mary a bus ticket. Does this time work?”

Seven-thirty in the morning.

He didn’t want Mom here a single minute longer.

I didn’t take the phone. I just said, calmly:

“Who said she’s leaving tomorrow?”

Julian stiffened. His jaw slowly tightened.

That look. Disgust. Instinctive rejection.

I’d seen it a hundred times over the past seven years.

Every time Mom came to visit, that expression crept onto his face.

I used to think he just didn’t like living with older people.

But now I understood completely.

Julian looked down on my mother.

Maybe because she came from a rough neighborhood. Or maybe because she wasn’t Lily’s mom.

“Chloe, there are enough people in this house already.”

He hinted again.

I nodded.

“Then tell Susan to move out.”

“That’s not really appropriate.”

Julian shut that down immediately. He looked at me like I was a child who didn’t know better.

“They’re guests, after all.”

They were honored guests. My mother was dirt.

A strange relief washed over me. At least we didn’t have kids. Custody would’ve been a nightmare.

“Fine. She can stay as long as she wants.”

He looked annoyed. Shoved the door open and walked out.

When I came out, Mom had finished her shower.

I told her to sit and rest, then went to the kitchen to start dinner.

The second she sat down, Susan started shrieking.

“Hey! Get up. That cushion is mine. Sit somewhere else.”

Mom shot to her feet, flustered and apologetic.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

Susan didn’t calm down. Her voice got sharper.

“If you don’t know, then ask first. Some manners would be nice.”

Mom went rigid. She looked like she was about to cry.

But she didn’t know how to fight. When she looked to Julian for help, he just sat there scrolling his phone like he hadn’t heard a thing.

Something felt wrong. I turned off the kitchen fan.

Susan’s voice came flooding in. She was scolding Mom like she was a disobedient child.

“First you just show up uninvited. Then you refuse to leave.”

“I’ve never met someone with so little shame.”

“You’ve lived long enough. Have some dignity.”

My head exploded. I walked out.

Mom stood frozen. Her face was blank. She just took it, like she’d left her own body.

Susan kept going.

“You should leave tomorrow. Don’t you have a shift at the diner? Aren’t you a little old to be freeloading?”

Smack.

I slapped her across the face.