Three Sides – Daniel – 1

Daniel – 1

My wife, Ellen, divorced me when our daughter, Gabi, was eight.  I didn’t realise how much she resented my commitment to my job.

I suppose if I were more alert I would have noticed.

I recall her denouement,  that loud revelation of why she wanted a divorce.

She began with my being late for dinner.  How we had always eaten at five.  She went on as if it were a Biblical Commandment that I be home and at dinner at five.  

As  she never knew when I’d be home she would eat at Five p.m.  How was it I hadn’t noticed that she no longer waited for me?

When I came home to a singular meal I assumed she had been hungry and didn’t see the point in waiting.

Ellen’s next proclamation is why hadn’t I noticed she had  brought her Aunt Sophie to live with us when Gabi was six months old so that she could return to work.

I did notice that, and said so.

Ellen shook her head and said that it wasn’t just work she returned to, it was her life.  A life without me.

I had no idea that I was so neglectful and distant.  To me, everything she did had an innocent explanation.  

So Ellen divorced me, took the house and Gabi, whom I only got to see every other weekend.