He Left Me Alone on Our Anniversary… Then Brought His Mistress Into My Bed — So I Took Everything and Walked Away

Juliet said no.

Hugh asked if we could at least talk about asset division before filing official requests. Juliet said we had already filed, and Kirk had thirty days to respond.

Hugh’s voice got tight. He said this didn’t have to be difficult.

Juliet said Kirk made it difficult when he cheated on his wife.

Then she hung up.

She looked at me and said Hugh calling that fast was actually good news. It meant Kirk was taking this seriously. That meant we could negotiate instead of dragging everything through court for months.

I went back to work three days after leaving Kirk. I couldn’t hide at Alexandra’s apartment forever, and sitting around thinking about my failed marriage was not helping anyone.

My patients needed me.

Cody had covered all my appointments perfectly. My schedule was completely up to date. My patients were happy to see me when I walked back into the clinic, and nobody asked about my personal life.

They just wanted help with their pain and recovery.

I spent the day doing what I was good at. Helping a woman regain strength in her shoulder after surgery. Teaching a man exercises for his bad knee. Working with a teenager who hurt his back playing football.

Focusing on other people’s problems gave me a break from my own.

By the end of the day, I felt almost normal.

Cody stopped by my office before leaving. He asked if I was doing okay. I said I was managing. He said he was glad I was back and that if I ever needed to talk, he was around.

I thanked him.

It felt good to know I had people at work who cared.

My phone rang while I was driving home from the clinic. I didn’t recognize the number, but I answered anyway.

A woman’s voice said my name and asked if I had a minute to talk.

I said yes.

She told me her name was Miranda and she was Kirk’s mother.

My stomach dropped.

I should have known she would get involved eventually.

Miranda said she had heard about the divorce papers. She said Kirk was very upset and that she wanted to talk to me woman to woman about giving him another chance.

I asked what there was to talk about.

She said all marriages go through rough patches. She said Kirk made a mistake, but he was a good man. Then she said I was being unreasonable by filing for divorce so quickly, and that I should at least hear him out and try to work things through.

I felt anger building in my chest.

I asked Miranda if Kirk told her what happened. She said he explained that things got complicated with a coworker.

I stopped her right there.

I told Miranda I found her son in bed with another woman on our first anniversary. I said he brought his mistress to our home and asked me to leave so he could decide if he wanted to keep cheating.

Then I told her that if she thought that was just a rough patch, she raised him to believe cheating was acceptable behavior.

Miranda started talking about forgiveness. She brought up Christian values and the importance of marriage vows. She said divorce was a sin and that I should pray about my decision.

I told her I was done praying for a man who didn’t respect me.

She kept talking, but I stopped listening. I told her I had nothing more to say to her or her son.

Then I hung up while she was in the middle of a sentence.

I pulled over and blocked her number.

I should have done it sooner.

Kirk’s family was not my problem anymore.

Juliet called two days later with Kirk’s first settlement offer. She said Hugh had sent over a proposal, and I wasn’t going to like it.

She was right.

Kirk wanted to keep the house. He offered to buy out my share, but over ten years with no interest. He wanted to give me barely anything from his retirement account, maybe twenty percent of what he contributed during our marriage, and he claimed he should get the car I bought because his name was on the title too, even though I paid for it.

Juliet said the offer was insulting and we would be rejecting it immediately.

She said Kirk was testing to see if I would accept a bad deal just to get the divorce over with.

I told her to tell Hugh that Kirk could take his offer and shove it.

Juliet laughed and said she would phrase it more professionally, but the message would be clear.

I called Juliet the next morning and told her to send Kirk a counteroffer that actually made sense. We demanded half the equity in the house based on current market value, half of everything he put into his retirement account during the marriage, and the car that I paid for even though his name ended up on the title.

Juliet typed everything into her computer while we talked and said she would have the documents ready by the end of the day.

She explained that Kirk’s lawyer would probably come back with something in the middle because that was how negotiations worked, but we needed to start from a strong position.

I told her I didn’t care how long it took as long as I got what I deserved.

She laughed and said that was exactly the right attitude for divorce negotiations.

I spent my lunch break that afternoon looking at apartment listings on my phone between patient appointments. Most places near my clinic were either too expensive or looked like they had not been updated since the eighties.

Then I found a one-bedroom in a complex about fifteen minutes from work that had availability starting the next month.

The rent was higher than I wanted to pay, almost two hundred dollars more than I had budgeted, but the pictures showed a gym and a pool, and the reviews mentioned good security.

I called the leasing office and scheduled a tour for Saturday morning. The woman on the phone said they had three units available and they were going fast, so I shouldn’t wait too long to decide.

Saturday came, and the apartment looked even better in person than it did in the photos.

The unit was on the second floor with a balcony facing the pool area. The kitchen had newer appliances, and the bathroom had been renovated recently. I walked through the empty rooms imagining where my furniture would go and realized I didn’t have enough stuff to fill the space.