From ex wife to sister in law

December. First snow in Los Angeles.

On their third wedding anniversary, Bernadette got nagged by her mother–in–law at the hospital until 11:30 before she could leave.

Snow covered the streets. Since she had not driven, she called Nolan.

The busy tone rang a few times before his voice finally came through, cold and flat.

“What is it?”

Hearing his voice made all the anger and hurt from the night come rushing back. Bernadette’s voice was hoarse as she said, “Can you come pick me up? It’s snowing really hard…”

“I’m busy.” Nolan cut her off, sounding bored. “If you’re tired, get a cab. Don’t bug me with these trifles again.”

Bernadette’s throat tightened. She wanted to say more, but the line went. dead.

0.00%

The busy tone stung her ears and her heart.

They had been in love for seven years. Married for three.

Back when they first started dating, Nolan would wait two hours outside her part–time job in the snow just to walk her back to the dorm. He would hold her close and say, “The roads are slippery when it snows. I’m scared you’ll fall if I’m not here.”

Now all that was just “trifles“…

The wind and snow blew harder. Bernadette pulled her down jacket tighter around herself and waited by the road for a taxi. Her fingers were numb as she scrolled through Instagram, just trying to kill time.

After she tapped “like” on a post, her thumb froze.

It was a photo from Nolan’s assistant, Kenneth Feehily–and by accident, Nolan was in the shot too.

He was sitting in the deputy general manager’s office at the Crowley Group, head down, reading through some files. In front of him sat a pink beverage.

“Nolan never drinks beverages like this, so who put it there?” she thought.

Bernadette wanted to zoom in to take a closer look, but the post disappeared. Just like someone wanted to hide something.