The Summer Breeze Has Passed, and You Have Faded From My World

The day of the class reunion, I drove my husband Garry Dickerson and his junior colleague Barbara Fox.

In the back seat, the two of them talked risk management the whole way.

It went on right up until we reached the private room, where Garry stood and introduced Barbara to everyone.

This is my company's risk manager. Anything about finance, feel free to ask her.

I tugged at Garry's hand and said quietly,

"Let's eat first. You can talk business later."

He turned a dark face on me, displeased.

"What do you know? This project is very important. It can't wait!"

Ignoring the eyes around us, he had Barbara sit down beside him.

She took the cue and set her bag on the chair next to his.

That chair was supposed to be mine.

I watched her bag settle neatly on the seat, paused for two seconds, then asked, "Where do I sit?"

Barbara's eyes reddened, and she stood as if to leave.

Garry grabbed her hand, not even lifting his head.

"I'm covering her share!"

"And you, if you've got time to interrogate people, you might as well go find a waiter and have another chair brought over."

Beside me, Seth Woodward glanced my way.

"Ursula Perry, you should learn some real skills too. Don't just spend all day chasing sales."

Garry raised his head, his lips moving, about to speak.

Barbara slid a file in front of him, pointed at the figures on it, and said softly, "Garry, look here. If we adjust the risk coefficient."

Watching how in sync the two of them were, I suddenly curved my lips into a smile.

This marriage had reached its end.

I'd just gotten home when I saw Garry lying on the couch, smoking.

I didn't say anything and headed for the bedroom. He got up and blocked my way.

"Ursula, what was that today?"

I ignored him. My mind was already made up, and nothing more said would change a thing.

But he seized my wrist and squeezed until it hurt.

"I'm talking to you! What are you playing deaf for?"

"Just because you pulled a face, now everyone at the company is saying Barbara's a mistress breaking up somebody's marriage."

I was about to say we might as well divorce.

His phone rang.

I glanced over. The caller ID read Barbara.

It was Barbara.

He tapped answer, and a rushed voice came through the speaker.

"Garry, can you come over now? I've got a better idea."

"Sure, I'll be right there."

He hung up in a flash, didn't spare me a glance, and hurried toward the door. Then he paused, looked back, and said, "Get some sleep early. I probably won't be home tonight."

The moment he shut the door, our wedding photo dropped off the wall.

The glass shattered across the floor, just like my heart right then, no amount of mending would ever bring it back to what it was.

I looked down at the wrist Garry had squeezed red, took a deep breath, and threw the wedding photo into the trash along with the broken glass.

Back in the bedroom, I packed my things, and the moment I finished, I felt a lightness I'd never known and the joy of leaving so close at hand.

I'd just dragged my suitcase to the entryway when his call came in.

Holding on to one last shred of hope, I answered.

His commanding tone came through from the other end.

"Make some hangover soup at home and bring it over. Barbara had a bit to drink tonight, and her head's killing her now."

"Don't sulk. Once I wrap up this project, I'll take you to that restaurant you've been wanting to try, I promise."

"Bring it within twenty minutes. And no ginger slices, Barbara's allergic to ginger."

He hung up before I could answer.

My last shred of hope died. I set the divorce papers on the shoe cabinet in the entryway, turned, and walked out the door.

I got a room at a hotel near the company. Right before I fell asleep,

Garry bombarded me with calls, plus dozens of messages.

I read a few. Nothing but nagging and blame heaped on me.

I looked at the chat box, didn't hesitate, and calmly typed out a few words.

"Garry, let's get divorced."

Once it sent, I blocked every way he had of reaching me.

The next morning, I'd barely stepped out of a meeting at the office when Garry blocked my path.

"Come to my office. We need to talk."

I followed him in without a word.

The moment the door shut, everything he'd been holding back came crashing down at once.

He grabbed my shoulders with shaking hands and shook me.

"You, why didn't you bring Barbara the hangover soup?"

"Why did you have to make her suffer?"

"Do you have any idea? I waited until two in the morning and you never showed up."

"If I hadn't noticed something was wrong and gotten her to the hospital in time, she'd be dead by now."

"I know you've been jealous and upset lately because I've been focused on the project and getting close to Barbara. But everything I do is for this family! Can't you just not make trouble for me? Not fight me at every turn?"

He vented all of it while staring into my eyes, trying to make me fall in line.

"You're coming with me to the hospital right now to apologize to Barbara in person."

Listening to him made me sick. I threw his hands off me.

"If you want to lose your mind, do it alone. Leave me out of it."

"What did you say?"

Furious, he backed me into the corner and clamped his hand around my jaw.

"Ursula, I don't care whether this divorce talk is just you playing hard to get."

"But let me be very clear. Today you're going, whether you want to or not."

"Otherwise, you know exactly what happens."

He let go of my jaw, pulled out his phone, and opened the photo album. Those pictures we'd taken for fun as a couple, one after another, blown up in front of my eyes.

Back then he'd insisted it was just for fun, just something to remember us by. So it turned out he'd been saving them for this all along.

I'd thought that once I divorced him and cleared the way for him and Barbara, we could part on good terms.

I'd thought I knew this man, the one I'd loved for eight years, well enough.

Human nature really can't survive a test. It never once crossed my mind that he'd use our old sweet moments to land a killing blow.

"Fine, I'll go apologize!"

I said.

"But on one condition. You delete every one of these videos and photos, no copies left."

"Otherwise, I'll ruin you completely!"

Faced with the certainty and hard set of my expression,

he faltered for a second, frozen.

"Don't worry. As long as you come apologize with me today, these photos and videos will disappear on their own."

I went with him to the hospital. We'd just reached the entrance of the inpatient ward when I overheard the young nurses gossiping.

"Some woman came in last night, drunk, complaining her head hurt, and her boyfriend swore it was her stomach and forced her to be admitted. They kept us running all night."

"Still, her boyfriend really does love her. Boiling hangover medicine in the kitchen in the middle of the night."

"That was four in the morning, you know."

The nurses spotted Garry and scattered.

The moment I stepped into the room, Barbara looked at me like she'd seen a ghost, got up from the bed, and dropped straight to her knees in front of me.

"Ursula, it's all my fault! I shouldn't have gotten drunk."

"I shouldn't have caused trouble for you and Garry."

"Yesterday Garry just felt sorry for me and looked after me for the night. Nothing happened between us."

Watching her put on such a show, I felt nothing at all. I only wanted to apologize and leave.

I stepped forward to help her up, and out of nowhere she threw herself backward, cracking her head against the bed.

At the thud, tears poured down her face and she started her lie.

"Ursula, I know you're angry, but you can't just hit people. I already knelt down and admitted I was wrong."

Before I could say a word, Garry drove his foot into my shin and roared.

"Get out!"

"Just wait. You're going to pay for this!"

The next day, I got a call. It was Garry.

He was laughing freely, the laugh of a man savoring his revenge.

"Seen it yet?"

"That's what you get for not falling in line."

He hung up the moment he finished. At the same time, a message from my coworker Cassandra Chavez popped up on my chat.

"Ursula, look at the company site, quick. Is that you?"

I didn't reply. I opened the link in the company group right away.

I knew instantly. This was Garry's revenge.

I hadn't thought he'd actually do it, not while we still weren't officially divorced.

I steadied myself and went in to work like any other day.

The moment my coworkers saw me, they scattered, whispering about me behind my back.

Back at my desk, Cassandra handed me a coffee, her voice low.

"Do you know who did it?"

"Want me to help?"

I took the coffee and gave her a smile.

"No need. I can handle it myself."

She nodded and patted my shoulder.

"All right, then. Jayden Chavez wants you in his office. Watch how you play it."

"Okay."

I took a sip of the coffee and headed for Jayden's office.

"Ursula, you've always been the star of the sales team. Something like this would normally be dealt with seriously. But the sales team can't do without you, so I can give you time to sort it out."

I nodded and thanked him.

I'd barely stepped out of the office when Garry came straight at me, spoiling for it.

"Doesn't feel good, does it?"

"You've got no one to blame but yourself. Too stubborn to listen."

"That was just a little something inside the company. If you don't back off from Barbara, then get ready to be famous."

Watching him stand there so sure he'd already won, I couldn't help but laugh.

Who won and who lost was far from settled.

I'd been married to him for eight years. Of course I knew the brutal tactics he used in business. I just never thought he'd turn them on his own wife.

Eight years of loving him. How could I not have kept something in reserve?

I opened my phone, found the private file, and sent it straight to Quinton Whitney, the company lawyer.

"I've got some evidence here. Take a look and tell me if it's enough to file a case."

Quinton wrote back fast.

"Publicly circulating private photos, seriously endangering your personal safety, plus defamation and distribution of obscene material."

"Take this to court and you win, guaranteed."

I'd made that recording back then purely to avoid trouble down the road.

I never expected it.

Now it was the evidence in my hands.

None of this was enough to touch Garry and Barbara. I wanted them to pay in full for what they'd done.

I knew one of Barbara's secrets.

At lunch, I went to the caf she always went to at midday.

She was tucked into a corner in a baseball cap and sunglasses, and across from her sat Gerard Lawrence, the man running Ritai.

I picked a booth diagonally behind them, sat with my back to them, and through a gap in the greenery I could see every move she made.

I watched Barbara take a large envelope out of her bag and hand it to Gerard.

Gerard took the envelope and glanced around.

I saw the corner of a flash drive poking out of the envelope.

I opened my camera, pretended to take a selfie, and quietly angled the lens toward them. Ritai had been our sworn rival for years.

All this time, they'd been poaching our clients.

Just then Garry pushed through the door.

He had two iced lattes in his hands.

Barbara hurried Gerard out, and Garry walked over.

"Barbara, who was that just now? Didn't even say hi, and left in such a rush."

"An old friend. Ran into him, said hello, that's all."

I sent the evidence I'd just gotten to Lawyer Whitney.

"Quietly get someone to watch Barbara for me. I think she's leaking company secrets."

"Got it!"

Quinton didn't waste a second.

I smiled and reported the two of them anonymously.

After work, Cassandra helped me rent a place, and I took her out for a big shared dinner to thank her.

But Garry came looking for me. He grabbed me by the collar, eyes bloodshot.

"Tell me, was that report letter you?"

"You think an anonymous report is enough to bring me and Barbara down."

I grabbed his hand and drove my knee up into him.

"Manager Dickerson, if you're sick, go get treated. Don't go biting people."

"Which eye of yours saw me report you? If you hadn't done anything, would anyone be reporting you?"

He stared at me, his gaze flickering, his lips moving.

I didn't leave. I kept eating with Cassandra, humming a little tune, in a very good mood.

At nine the next morning, the company held a core meeting. Attendance was mandatory.

Jayden stood at the front, dressing Garry down.

He hadn't grasped how serious it was. He thought it was just an ordinary complaint.

He stepped forward to plead with Jayden. "Jayden, if you're going to punish someone, punish me. Don't fire Barbara. She doesn't know anything."

Jayden was so angry the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Garry, do you have any idea what you're saying?"

"Do you know what Barbara did? And you want to take the fall for her."

Jayden slammed a stack of documents against Garry.

"See for yourself."

The investigation team came over then, straight up to Barbara.

"You're suspected of selling and leaking company trade secrets and misappropriation of your position. Come with us."

Barbara didn't react at all. She just glared at me, hard.

"So what? Worst case I pay some money and it's over."

"Ursula, you think if the company fires me, you'll get Garry's heart?"

"From start to finish, the only person he's ever loved is me."

"Who do you think you are!"

Half-crazed, she was still screaming it as the investigation team dragged her out.

As for Garry, he stared at the documents in his hands, muttering over and over.

"That's impossible!"