My Husband Abandoned Me On My Birthday To Spend The Entire Day With His Ex-wife.

He said he didn’t realize it was that many times. I asked how he didn’t realize when I told him every single time that Natalie was using him.

Jerome sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands. He looked up at me with tears running down his face.

He said maybe he let Natalie manipulate him too much but he swore he never had feelings for her. He said he never cheated, so what I did bringing Nathan to his mother’s funeral was worse.

I laughed and it came out bitter. I said emotional abandonment counted as betrayal even if it wasn’t physical.

Jerome started crying harder and said his mother just died and I humiliated him at her funeral in front of everyone. I told him his mother spent 5 years humiliating me at every family gathering while he said nothing.

I reminded him about Linda showing people his wedding photos with Natalie. About Linda seating Natalie next to him at dinners while I sat at the end.

About Linda calling Natalie the daughter she wished for. Jerome said his mother was difficult but she was still his mother.

I said I understood that but he chose to let her treat me terribly and never once stood up for me. I zipped the suitcase closed and told Jerome I was staying with Sabina for a while.

I said we needed space to figure out if this marriage could be saved. Jerome grabbed the suitcase handle and refused to let go.

He said we could work through this if I just gave him a chance. He said he’d do anything to fix it.

I pulled on the suitcase but his grip was tight. I told him to let go and he shook his head.

He said he loved me and couldn’t lose me. I yanked harder on the suitcase and it came free from his hands.

Jerome stood up and tried to block the doorway. I pushed past him and he grabbed my arm.

I told him not to touch me and he let go immediately. He followed me down the hall still talking.

He said he’d cut off contact with Natalie. He said he’d go to counseling.

He said whatever I needed him to do he’d do it. I opened the front door and put the suitcase in my car.

Jerome stood on the porch in the same spot where he’d watched me leave with Nathan hours earlier. He was still pleading when I backed out of the driveway.

I could see him in the rearview mirror standing there alone as I drove away. Sabina’s apartment smelled like red wine and take out Chinese food when I arrived with my suitcase.

Conflicting Motives and Hard Truths

She opened the door in sweatpants and took one look at my face before pulling me inside. I dropped the suitcase in her hallway and sat on her couch while she poured two large glasses of wine.

She sat across from me and waited for me to talk. I told her everything starting with the funeral and Nathan sitting next to me and Jerome’s face when he saw us together.

I explained about the fight at home and the calendar I’d been keeping and how Jerome finally looked at all those red dates and went pale. Sabina listened without interrupting and when I finished she took a long drink of wine.

She said Jerome absolutely deserved consequences for years of putting Natalie first. She said any husband who abandons his wife on her 30th birthday for his ex deserves whatever he gets.

Then she leaned forward and said bringing Nathan to the funeral was brutal though. She said it was calculated and public and designed to hurt Jerome in front of his entire family right after his mother died.

I didn’t deny it because she was right. I told her it was supposed to hurt him as publicly as he’d hurt me privately all these years.

Sabina nodded and asked if I actually had feelings for Nathan or if he was just a weapon I was using against Jerome. I opened my mouth to answer and realized I didn’t know.

Everything with Nathan had been tangled up in my anger at Jerome from the start. Nathan remembered my coffee order but was that love or just him being observant?

Nathan listened when I talked but was I drawn to him or just to someone who wasn’t Jerome? I sat there holding my wine glass and admitted I couldn’t separate my feelings for Nathan from my need to prove Jerome wrong about me.

Sabina said that was something I needed to figure out before I made any permanent decisions about my marriage. Two days after the funeral Nathan took me to dinner at an Italian place downtown.

He wore a nice shirt and pulled out my chair and asked how I was holding up after everything with Jerome. I said I was staying at Sabina’s and didn’t know what came next.

Nathan reached across the table and took my hand. He said he’d help me find my own apartment if I wanted.

He said I deserved better than a husband who treated me like an afterthought. The waiter brought our food and Nathan talked about his work and asked about mine and was sweet and attentive like always.

But sitting across from him I noticed something in his expression when he mentioned the funeral. He looked satisfied in a way that made me uncomfortable.

He said he was glad he could be there to support me and that Jerome’s face when he saw us together was priceless. Nathan actually used the word priceless like he’d enjoyed being part of humiliating Jerome.

I picked up my pasta and watched Nathan talk about how Jerome never appreciated me and how he’d always known I deserved someone better. His words were kind but his tone had this edge of competition like he’d won something.

I started wondering if Nathan had his own reasons for wanting to prove he was better than my husband. Maybe our whole relationship was built more on competition and revenge than genuine connection.

Maybe Nathan wanted to be with me partly because I was Jerome’s wife and taking me away from Jerome meant he’d won. I finished dinner feeling strange and confused about whether anything with Nathan was real or if we were both using each other for the wrong reasons.

Jerome called my phone 17 times over the next week. I blocked his number after the fifth call but then he started texting from different numbers.

The messages alternated between apologizing and accusing me of destroying our marriage over his friendship with Natalie. He’d text that he was sorry and wanted to fix things then an hour later he’d text that I was throwing away seven years over one bad birthday.

He’d say Natalie was just a friend who needed help then he’d say I was the one who cheated by bringing Nathan to his mother’s funeral. I stopped reading the texts after a while.

His brother Stephano called on Thursday evening. I almost didn’t answer but curiosity got the better of me.

Stephano said Jerome was a mess and barely eating. He said Jerome loved me and made a mistake but everyone makes mistakes.

He asked if I was really throwing away seven years over one bad birthday. I told Stephano to look at the calendar I sent Jerome.