Chapter 24: The Call of the Past

Chapter 24: The Call of the Past

That morning I woke up very early. There was a new illusion in me, a fresh air that swelled my lungs and an energy of determination that I thought I had lost forever. When Ethan arrived at nine o'clock, the table on my terrace was already set. I made hot coffee, crispy toast, yogurt, cereal, and fresh strawberry juice. He, for his part, showed up with a box of fresh pastries, a variety of local cheeses and the aromatic Norwegian coffee he used to drink on the beach. This is how we shared our morning: between laughter, sweet bites and the detailed organization of our itinerary to Iceland.

Suddenly, the silence of the cabin was cut short by a shrill sound that chilled my blood for a second. My cell phone, which had been practically dead and turned off for a very long time, vibrated on the table. On the screen flashed his name: Anthony.

I swiped across the screen and answered.

"Hello?" I said, in a strangely calm voice.

On the other end of the line, my ex-husband's voice came in abruptly. There was no room for a "how are you" or a "I'm sorry". He immediately began questioning me in a possessive, aggressive tone, demanding to know who the man in my social media photographs was, where I was in and what he was doing with my life.

At that precise moment, something inside me broke, but not from pain, but from absolute irony. I started laughing. I laughed at him out loud, a clean, loud laugh like I'd never laughed at before in fifteen years of marriage.

"Anthony, we're separated," I said, interrupting his flurry of belated jealousy. You have another partner, a younger woman, remember? I am exactly where I want to be and with whom I want to be. There is absolutely nothing between us that unites us anymore. So just worry about your wife... because that, now, is no longer me.

And without waiting for an answer, I hung up on him.

I stared at the dark phone. How amazing life is. After fifteen years where he never cared about my feelings, my illnesses or my desires, now it turns out that I am important to him. Now that he is nothing, now that I don't give a damn about his opinion, he intends to reclaim a place that he himself threw away.

I looked up and found Ethan's blue eyes fixed on me. There was no jealousy or doubt in his eyes; There was a deep, sincere pride in the woman who had just come to grips with her past. However, true to our silent covenant, he didn't touch the subject at all. We knew that at some point we would open up completely to each other, but it wasn't the day yet. The explanations could wait; our life does not.