The New Woman

It’s been six and a half months since the divorce was final.  It was three months before that when I moved out.  Eight months ago, Mr. Excitement moved in.  Clearly, I have moved on with my life. 

About a month ago, my ex-husband, Mr. Perfect, started dating again and I felt nothing except hope for him.  I truly want him to find someone he can love with his whole heart and I know that that person isn’t me.  I’ve actually been patting myself on the back and congratulating myself about being a grown-up about all this – at least that is until a couple nights ago.

I was giving our son a bath when Mr. Perfect called, irate that I hadn’t been answering his phone calls.  My phone is broken and doesn’t always ring, but that’s no excuse.  I didn’t really want to let a 3-year-old talk on the phone in a bathtub but I gave in rather than argue about that as well. 

Instead, I put Mr. Perfect on speakerphone and let him go through his daily ritual of asking Bubba how his day went.  Then he said one sentence that stopped my heart cold – “I have a new kid for you to play with.”

Instantly I began conjuring up ideas of a soft, pink little baby all wrapped in flannel nursing on a bottle.  I did a quick mental calculation and wondered if he really HAD been cheating on me during our marriage as I suspected.  How could he have not mentioned this before now?  Without even thinking, I blurted out “A new KID?”

There was a tense silence over the phone.

“Yes, a new kid,” Mr. Perfect growled through his teeth, “And why are you listening to our conversation?”

“Sorry,” was all I managed to choke out.