I hadn’t gone home in one day, he hadn’t either.
My countdown was over.
<
As I got on the plane he texted me.
“Sarah, the assistant has brought your gift, why
don’t you open the door?”
“Are you still upset?”
“Don’t be like that, listen to me. I’ll be back
soon.”
I looked at Tiffany’s social media post, a picture
from the hospital, a man gently feeding her.
I didn’t respond to him.
After I got the message that my passport had
been cancelled I deleted his number.
At the hospital, the secretary was rushing over,
the release form in hand, face white.
“It’s bad Mr. Johnson! Ms. Johnson has found
the release vou foraed! I can’t reach her!”
く
Chapter 2
Jake just froze, like he didn’t even understand
what the lawyer was saying. It took him a
minute to snap out of it.
“The release form? You gotta be kidding me.
That thing’s been locked up in the police station
for three years. How could she just find it?”
The lawyer was sweating bullets, practically
tripping over his words. He leaned in,
whispering to Jake, “I don’t know, man! But she
definitely got a copy of it and sent it over to us.
I tried calling her to explain, but she didn’t
answer, so I’m guessing she knows what’s up. I
didn’t have time to go to the station to find out
what was going on I just came over here to talk
to you.”
“What should we do? Is she gonna sue? If she
makes this public, everything we’ve worked for,
all the company’s credibility – all gone!”
In the hospital bed, Tiffany’s eyes flickered with
a hint of smugness, but she quickly masked it
with a worried look.
“Honey, what’s going on? Is something wrong
With tha
should hand
with the company? Maybe you should head
back, I’m okay, Sam will be here in a bit. Don’t
worry about me.”
Jake’s face was like a thundercloud. After a
long pause he said, “I’m sorry, Sarah just
disappeared and I’m afraid something is going
on, I gotta go check on her.”
Tiffany giggled, covering her mouth with her
hand. “Oh, that’s all? You know Sarah, she is
just being dramatic! You know what she’s like,
she probably just got upset about the party. No
worries. She’ll be back in a few days, when she
calms down. You need to get back to the
company, don’t worry she’ll understand.”
Jake seemed to believe her, visibly relaxing a
bit. But as he turned to leave, Tiffany started
coughing uncontrollably. Jake was stuck. He
told his lawyer to look for me, while he stayed
at the hospital to take care of her.
The lawyer had barely left the room when
Tiffany was her normal self again. Lying there,
she was going on and on about how dramatic I
was, and how I was acting out and not
<
understanding the big picture. All these subtle
digs that were supposed to get to Jake, but he
could only think about me.
He looked at her and suddenly, he hated the
way she was acting. He didn’t say anything, but
the look on his face stopped her.
“Enough, Sarah isn’t like that. I know her.”
One sentence and Tiffany was crying, she got
out of bed to apologize.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it. I know Sarah is a
great girl, and you are a great guy, If it wasn’t
for you, I don’t know what I would have done
these past three years. I’m just scared that
she’ll be mean to you and you’ll get hurt.”
“You know what happened with Sarah’s mom
was an accident. The brakes gave out, I
couldn’t control it. I was just trying to pick her
up from the airport and take her home, who
would have thought…”
That car crash was like a knife in his heart, no
matter how many times he heard about it. He
knew Tiffany was innocent, but all the evidence
was pointing to her. The police said it wasn’t an
Г
accident.
He had an image of my terrified face at the
wedding. And for the first time, Jake hated
Tiffany.
“Don’t, it’s in the past. I have some things to
take care of. I’ll call Sam to keep an eye on
you, I gotta go.”
Tiffany tried to stop him, but he was gone
before she could get another word out. As soon
as he stepped outside the hospital, his lawyer
was on the phone.
“Mr. Johnson, I spoke to the police. Sarah came
to investigate the accident a day ago, she
didn’t say anything, she just got a copy of the
release form and left.”
“It’s too early to file a case.”
“She knows something is up. You gotta go
home and see what’s going on!”
Jake stopped dead in his tracks. “A day ago?”
It all hit him at once. He ran to his car, driving
like a maniac, running several red lights. In
between, he was calling me, sending text
messages.
But all I could see on his phone was a red
exclamation mark. My phone was still off. We’d
never been in this place before. Even our
arguments were rare. We had never cut off
communication. Jake had no idea how to win
me back. All he could hear on his phone was a
robotic response. He became more and more
worried.
When he opened the front door, he froze. The
wall was empty, where our wedding picture
used to be. All my stuff was gone. He ran to the
bedroom, opened the closet. Only his suits were
there. He looked in every single corner of the
house.
He saw the divorce papers on the table. He
read it, and where it was about the money, it
said four words. “Nothing for him”
It hurt his eyes. It hurt his heart.
He sat down on the sofa, smoking one cigarette
after another. He was reliving the past three
years, one image after another, he was losing
himself.
The phone kept ringing. But there was no
<
answer.
Finally, he took out his phone and sent a
message to his lawyer.
“Find her. Whatever the cost, find Sarah.”
That night, he didn’t stay home. He went to see
his lawyer with the papers.
The lawyer shook his head. “Now that Mrs.
Johnson knows, she’s not going to come back.
She didn’t sue you, you’re lucky. If she gets
angry and publicizes this, everything is
finished!”
Jake was looking down at the floor, defeated,
leaning against the sofa.
“I won’t give up. If I can find her, if she wants to
send me to jail, if she wants to ruin my life, I’ll
take it…”
His lawyer was surprised at how he had
changed. He said after a long pause, “I told you
that getting a release by getting married would
be a mistake. You should know that your
relationship with Mrs. Johnson could never be
normal after this.”
“You got the best possible outcome. I don’t
understand why you’re still looking for her?”
<
understand why you’re still looking for her?”
“What do you want to say? That I’m sorry for
using her to free the woman that killed her
mother? Do you want me to go on my knees
and tell her that I’m sorry I married her for
that?”
Jake was shaking, he looked pale.
“Tiffany was innocent…this whole thing was…”
Before he could finish, his lawyer stopped him.
“Mr. Johnson, as your lawyer, I’m telling you,
you need to look at the evidence. And not at
your feelings. The court doesn’t care about your
feelings, the police don’t either.”
