No Longer Waiting For You Chapter 01
Olivia’s POV
The second our daughter, Tania Barston, blew out the candles on her fourth birthday cake all by herself, I sent my husband, Rodney Barston, the divorce papers.
He replied instantly with a simple OK, and I stared at it for a long time. For five years, he had replied to every single text message I sent with those exact same two letters.
Exactly a year ago today, a delivery truck crashed into us while I was taking Tania to pick up her birthday cake. I threw my body over hers and ended up with severe head trauma.
Sitting in the back of the ambulance, I called Rodney twenty-nine times. I’d made a silent bargain with myself—if he picked up, I would give our marriage one last chance.
He didn’t answer once. Instead, I got twenty-nine automated replies, all reading the exact same thing: “OK.”
I found out later that he’d spent the entire afternoon celebrating the third birthday of Macey, Claire Pashley’s daughter.
We’d been married for five years. In all four years of Tania’s life, he hadn’t come home to celebrate a single one of her birthdays, nor had he ever wished her a happy one.
Yet he’d never missed one of Macey’s.
He was always so mindful of the fact that Claire was a struggling single mom. He remembered the Elsa dress Macey mentioned in passing, and he knew both of them were highly allergic to dairy.
Back at the table, Tania stared at her cake, her eyes brimming with tears. “Mom?” she asked, her voice small. “Did Dad get lost?”
I stroked her hair and slipped my phone back into my purse.
I had nearly died in surgery after the crash, but when I woke up, I’d still somehow convinced that he was just too busy.
Not today. I was done lying to myself.
This was the last time I was going to wait around for Rodney to come home and act like a father.
***
After we finished the cake, Tania and I walked back into our apartment complex hand in hand.
The security guard leaned out of his booth as we passed. “Ms. Robbins, Mr. Barston left at two this afternoon. He got back ten minutes ago with a woman and a child, and he was carrying an empty cake box.”
I nodded my thanks. Beside me, Tania was gripping her partially melted birthday candle tightly. The wax had dried against her skin, but she refused to let it go.
When we unlocked the apartment door, Rodney was standing right there in the living room. The scent hit me immediately—cake frosting and gardenia perfume. Specks of golden glitter clung to his hair, and there was a distinct smear of frosting on his shirt cuff.
“You’re back?” he asked, looking up. “I thought you were eating out.”
“Today is Tanny’s fourth birthday,” I said evenly.
He paused. “Oh. I completely forgot. Work has been crazy lately.”
I just stared at him, letting the silence stretch out.
The two girls shared the exact same birthday, yet he’d remembered to celebrate with Claire and Macey. He’d even remembered their dairy allergy, driving clear across town just to pick up an expensive dairy-free cake.
My gaze dropped to the floor. Tucked neatly by the front door was a pair of small, pink bunny slippers. A child’s slippers.
“Whose slippers are these?” I asked.
“Oh, Claire and Macey came over to hang out and forgot them,” Rodney said, waving it off. “I’ll drop them off next time I drive by her place.”
Claire had brought Macey into my home, and I—the woman who actually lived here—knew absolutely nothing about it.
His phone lit up on the coffee table.
I glanced down. It was a text from Claire, “Are you home? Macey had a wonderful time today. She said she wants to blow out her candles with you next time, too.”
A small smile crossed Rodney’s face as he typed back, “Glad she had fun. I’ll bring the slippers over tomorrow and fix that leaking faucet you mentioned.”
In five years of marriage, all his texts put together weren’t even as long as this single message.
“Rodney,” I said, stopping him before he could put the phone down. “Why do you only ever reply with ‘OK’ when I text you?”
He frowned, looking at me like I was being completely unreasonable.
“You only ever text me about trivial things. Sending an ‘OK’ is my way of letting you know I got it. It’s just more efficient.”
“Are the divorce papers a trivial thing, too?” I asked.
He froze. “What divorce papers?”
I didn’t say a word. He snatched up his phone and started scrolling through our thread until he finally hit the photo I’d sent him five hours earlier.
“Why are you acting like this?” he demanded, his voice thick with sudden frustration. “Look, it was my fault for forgetting Tanny’s birthday. I’ll make it up to her tomorrow. I can take her to Disneyland—”
“There’s no need,” I cut him off.
Just then, his phone lit up again.
This time, I got a clear look at the screen. He had Claire saved in his contacts as “Claire Bear.”
Meanwhile, I was saved under my full name, “Olivia Robbins.”
“Oh, right,” he said, struck by a sudden thought. “Leave that picture book on the couch alone. I got it for Macey. I’m dropping it off at Claire’s tomorrow.”
I just stared at it—a gold-foiled hardcover edition of “Guess How Much I Love You.”
Tania had been asking for that exact book for six months.
Every time I brought it up, Rodney fed me the same excuse—”If I order it online, we have to wait for shipping. I’ll just grab it whenever I have time to hit a bookstore.”
He had no time to get that book for Tania. But for Macey? He found the time to drive completely out of his way for a cake and even made a special trip to a bookstore just to pick out this gorgeous hardcover.
I opened my mouth to say something, but he walked away and shut the bedroom door loudly.
Sitting in the dark living room, I pulled the signed divorce papers out of my bag.
My phone lit up. It was a text from Konnor Warrington, “Liv, I’ve sorted out the house and the preschool in New Zealand. Whenever you’re ready to leave, I’m here to help.”
Konnor was a year behind me in college, and now we were partners at the same law firm. He’d been secretly in love with me for ten years. He watched me get married, and he watched me grow deeply unhappy in this marriage.
I stared at his kind words on the screen, glanced back toward the closed bedroom door, and replied, “See you outside the courthouse in three days at 9:00 AM.”
