Mrs. Matched | Complete

Chapter Thirty-Three

The doctor agreed with Chris that my foot was not broken, so all that was to be done was rest, ice, and elevation. In addition to keeping it wrapped and using crutches when I tried to walk. I say tried, because it is impossible to use crutches when you have the arm strength of a newborn baby.

Most of the next week had passed in relative solitude, with me stuck at home recovering while Chris was busy returning to work after our honeymoon period.

Which had been, all told, quite wasted due to my stubbornness. I was so ready to be back at work myself just so I'd have something to do during the days while Chris was away. We barely saw each other beyond signing paperwork and submitting our final tasks to Match Made. Which is why, when he came home early on Friday evening, I was caught with a facemask on watching one of those shows where too many people live in a huge mansion and complain about how hard their lives are.

"I-- uh..." There was no use lying as he'd already seen it all. "I was watching trash TV because I wasn't expecting you for at least another two hours."

"I was just down at Match Made handling the last of our paperwork."

"I thought that was done weeks ago. Did they need us for another meeting?"

"Not exactly. It's just." A tear slipped out the corner of his cheek. "Now that you're feeling better I think it's best I give this to you and get out of your way."

"Get out of my way? You aren't in my way."

"Look, Aubrey." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't want to make this harder than it has to be any more than you do. Let's just--"

"Don't want to make what harder? Chris, tell me what's going on!"

If I could have walked, I would have been shaking him by his shoulders, but as it was I could only half lunge over the edge of the couch arm and try to keep from falling.

He struggled to speak and then finally decided to shove the envelope into my hands and walk out the front door.

I was stunned, a deer in headlights for several seconds before I realized he had gone.

"Wait! Chris!" I stood as quickly as I could and hobbled across the living room using only one crutch, throwing the door open and stepping out into the hot sun. I arrived just in time to see him getting into the car and backing out of the driveway.

In another, not accident prone life, I might have chased him down, but I was not blessed with that life. So I was the girl sitting on the front porch steps, wondering what on earth had changed in the last week to make the man cut and run.

Unless...

I flew back inside as quickly as I could hopping on one foot, crutch abandoned on the porch. Scanning the living room, my eyes fell on the envelope he handed me as he left. That was the second time he had given me a gift and then left.

I ripped it open with none of the ceremony it was due and quickly scanned the documents for a clue.

It didn't take me long to figure out what was going on.

Agreement of Marriage Dissolution.

What?

I didn't take the time to read through the contract, I just flipped to the last page and saw the signature I now recognized as my husband's.

Except he wasn't my husband. Not anymore.

I watched myself move about the house and eat a piece of bread with lettuce for supper. Typical Chris, I thought, to leave the fridge fully stocked when he left. There were an extra set of crutches in the kitchen and a step stool stood sentinel in front of the sink where I used it to wash dishes.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and dialed Melody's number. I can't deal with my parents right now and Chris doesn't want to speak to me.

"Hey, Aubrey. What's up?"

"Chris and I are..." A sob tore through me and barked out my mouth.

"Aubrey? Can you hear me?"

"Chris is gone. He. I." Nothing I said made sense, coming out instead in some combination of Mandarin and Arabic or something.

"Aubrey, are you okay?"

"No."

"I'm coming over. Do you need anything?"

My sobs had overtaken me by that point and I couldn't bring words to my lips.

"You know what? I'll bring brownies. Text me if you want anything else. Can you text?"

I nodded, pain from the ankle I had walked on shooting into my head. "Yeah."

I sunk down to the floor and held my ankle in my hands, head resting on the cabinet drawer. Two days ago, the best part of this house was that Chris made it. That day, it was the worst part. Everything is him.

How could he leave me? Why did I have to tell him the truth? Or rather, why didn't I tell him the whole truth a lot sooner? What am I going to do now?

It was a good thing I hadn't locked the front door after Chris left, because there was no way I was leaving that floor to let Melody into my house. I dragged myself off of the floor to grab a glass of water and was sitting on my kitchen chair when Melody rushed in through the still-open door.

"What happened?"

"Chris left. We're... it's over." I said between sobs, water glass shaking in my hand.

"Awe, sweetie." She hugged me and smoothed my hair down. I could practically hear her thinking but isn't that what you wanted?

And she was right. It was what I wanted, but I never expected the choice of whether to be married or not would be taken from me twice.

And I never expected Chris to be the one to hurt me.