Chapter 2

Dennis caught his reflection in the door of his truck as he slammed it. His face was unshaven, eyes and cheeks sunken in.

His fucking life was over.

He closed his eyes and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the cool metal of his truck, breathing in and out through his nose, trying to quell incessant nausea.

He’d started drinking on Tuesday night after Linda left and now it was Friday. He’d remembered to send a text to his boss saying, “I’m sick.”

That’s all Dennis had had the presence of mind to type.

Linda was ... gone ... She was the girl who had held his heart since middle school. It was still that way. Nothing had changed in that regard. Never would.

In his mind, he could see Linda packing her suitcase on their bed. He could still hear the words that had split him wide open.

I don’t love you anymore.

The woman he was supposed to care for forever was gone, she didn’t love him anymore.

Was she cheating on him? Was there another man?

No, Linda would never do that.

A knock on the door brought him back to reality.

Paul Olson’s face was the last thing Dennis wanted to see right now. He was the foreman of his crew and a good friend.

“You still sick, buddy?” Paul patted Dennis on the shoulder. “What the hell did you catch? Food poisoning?”

“I don’t have time for this, Paul,” Dennis said, pressing a row of fingers to the center of his splitting forehead. “Don’t act like you don’t know Linda is staying at the inn.”

“I ... Oh. Shit, man,” Paul’s hand dropped away. “I heard something about it, but I thought it was just town gossip. I knew things between you two were not well but I never think they were that bad. Do you need to talk?”

“All the town knew it was coming except me?”

“Nope.” Dennis shook his head.

“You sure? You know I lived a similar situation with his first wife.”

“Yes, I remember. She was cheating on you. Linda is not like that.”

“What happened, Dennis?”

Dennis just shrugged. “Linda said she doesn’t love me anymore. Said she wasn’t happy with me.”

“Damn! Do you want her back?”

“Of course I want her back!” Dennis snapped in a rusted voice, shocking himself by saying the words out loud, instead of letting them ricochet around inside his skull. “She’s my wife. She’s supposed to stay. We said vows.”

Paul made wishy-washy sounds as if they disagreed.

“What?”

“Marriages have ups and downs,” Paul said, obviously treading carefully. “But if a woman isn’t happy for a long period of time...” He trailed off.

On top of the horror of losing Linda, he was embarrassed. What kind of a man lands an incredible woman like Linda and doesn’t do enough to hold on to her?

How had he been so fucking wrong?

Linda had been unhappy too long, and he had been blind to it.