Chapter 7

Larry checked into a hotel with a bottle of cheap whiskey and drank until he couldn’t remember. He passed out, woke up and drank some more. Three days later, Larry crawled out of the shit hole, showered and found his cell phone. He’d turned it off so that he wouldn’t be forced to hear the constant calling and texting from his soon to be ex-wife.

He picked it up and turned it on. As it came to life, it buzzed incessantly catching up the notifications from all the missed calls and messages. He logged in and noticed that he had a ton of phone calls and texts from many people, including a lot of unknown numbers. It was the messages from his daughter that got his attention. He bypassed it all and called her directly.

She answered on the first ring.

“Dad, where the fuck are you?” Tina yelled into the phone. “Mom’s in the hospital.”

In spite of everything, Larry’s heart leaped into his throat. “What?” he demanded, “What the fuck happened?”

Tina was crying. “She tried to kill herself. They don’t know if she’s going to make it. Where are you?”

“Which hospital?” he shouted.

“Medical City Mckinney,” she answered. “Where are you dad? What happened? Why aren’t you here?”

He was already running to the car. Before he realized what he was doing, Larry told his daughter the truth. “She was cheating on me. I found out and left. I’ve been on a bender. I don’t even know what day it is. What did she do?”

“I don’t know, Dad,” Tina said, fighting back the tears, “one of the people she works with found her in the gallery this morning. She was unconscious. The doctors haven’t told me much, except that she is in critical condition. Hurry dad, please.”

“I’m just up the street, I’ll be there soon,” he said as he hung up and tore out of the Motel 6 parking lot. He ran almost every red light on the service road, setting off every one of the red light cameras. He slid to a stop at the valet stand and threw his keys to the shocked attendant.

He stopped at the ER check-in desk. “My wife was admitted this morning, where is she?” he demanded. He gave them his name, and they directed him to the waiting room.

“Your wife is in intensive care,” the attendant explained, “wait in here, we’ll have someone come and get you shortly.”

“I want to see my wife!” he shouted, “where is she?”

“Sir, if you’ll wait here, I’ll get someone to take you to her.”

Larry was furious. He stepped into the waiting room and saw his daughter Tina running to him. She threw herself into his arms. “Oh, Daddy, why did she do this?”

Larry held his daughter tightly in his arms rocking her back and forth. All his grief, betrayal, and sadness came pouring out of him as he let go of the ropes holding his emotions in. He nearly collapsed as he cried in her arms.

“She can’t die,” he said, “I won’t let her.”

“Why, Daddy? Why?” was all Tina could say.

Larry knew why. Faith had cheated on him. He caught her, and he left her. Her guilt had been too much, and she tried to kill herself. Was it worth dying over? Was it worth throwing everything away over?

“Mr. Mitchell?” came a voice from an attendant in the doorway.

Larry looked up, “Yes? That’s me!”

“Sir, if you’ll come with me,” the young woman said. She was stoic, and it was impossible to read anything in her demeanor.

“Is she okay?” Larry asked, frantically.

“Sir, please, come with me,” the attendant repeated.

Larry took his daughter’s hand and followed as they strode through the hospital. They entered the ICU, and the attendant opened a large door to a private room, beckoning them inside. “Your wife is going to pull through,” she said as she closed the door behind them. “They got her here just in time. She’d taken a lot of sleeping pills, but we were able to pump her stomach and get a lot of it. We’ve given her charcoal to help neutralize what’s left, and she’s been undergoing an IV treatment to flush her bloodstream.”

“Oh, thank God,” Tina said as she hugged her father.

“Will there be any long-term effects?” Larry asked as he tried to process the information.

“We don’t think so,” the woman said, “she’s fortunate her co-worker found her when she did. A psychologist and social worker are going to come and talk to you. It’s not against the law in Texas to kill yourself, but we highly recommend you talk to them and get your wife the help she needs. You were lucky this time. I lost my sister to suicide, Mr. Mitchell. Good luck.”

With that, the attendant left the room. Larry and Tina continued to hug each other and cry for a few minutes. As the realization that Faith was going to be alright sunk in, Larry’s grief turned to anger.

“How dare her, do this to us,” Larry said as he sat down on the edge of the empty bed.

“What?” Tina said, staring incredulously at her father. “How dare her?”

“She cheated on me, Tina. That wasn’t bad enough; then she does this. If she had died, what would that have done to you? Did she even think about the pain she was causing? Wasn’t it enough pain to cheat on me and throw our marriage away.”

“Dad!” Tina exclaimed, “How can you think about your hurt ego at a time like this? Mom nearly died! She almost died because you left her! You are everything to her! How could you leave her?”

“She was fucking some guy at her art studio! I’m not her everything! She replaced me! Our marriage died the day she started in with this whole Faith Mitchell Gallery bullshit! Why wasn’t I enough? Why wasn’t our life enough? We were happy! We were fucking happy! It wasn’t enough! She had to prove something, to be a big shot, to be wanted. Well, she got what she wanted! It only cost us our marriage!”

“Dad, grow the fuck up,” Tina said, scolding him, “If she cheated on you, it was just sex, Dad. Mom would never leave you or give up what you two had. She loves you.”

“Loves me?” he shook his head. “You haven’t been around kiddo. Ever since she started with this new gallery idea, she’s not been home. She’s not been interested in me. She abandoned me and what we had.”

“Dad, that’s not true!” Tina argued, “I talk to Mom almost every day. She was excited about the new gallery and was caught up in it. But, it was temporary. Once she got it opened, and things settled down, she would have been right back with you like before.”

Suddenly, Larry had a suspicion.

“Did you know she was fucking this guy, Josh?” he asked point blank.

“No, Dad! She told me about Josh, but she never said anything about having sex with him. But, if she was, so what! It’s just sex! Mom almost died! She can fuck anybody she wants as long as she lives, Dad!”

“You’re not her husband! You can’t say that!” Larry fired back.

“Would you rather her be dead or fucking someone else?” Tina asked.

“Of course, I don’t want her dead! But, I don’t want her fucking someone else, either! Why did she need to do that? Our sex life was incredible! Until recently, that is. Now I know why she stopped fucking me!”