My ex-husband invited me to his Halloween party just to remind me that no man would ever want me again, so I asked an old friend to pretend to be my boyfriend. He arrived wearing a mask, and Jason laughed when he saw us together, but when my date removed his mask, Jason and his new wife went pale.
A week before Halloween, my ex-husband invited me to a party and managed to insult me in the process.
“Christy and I are throwing a Halloween party at our new house,” Jason announced.
“Don’t worry, you can come alone. Nobody expects you to have anyone anyway.”
“Sounds fun.”
“All the parents are coming as couples. But don’t worry, you can come alone. Nobody expects you to have anyone anyway.”
I stared at the pumpkin on my counter.
“Was that supposed to be kind?”
“Christy says you’re sensitive about these things. I’m trying to make it easy.”
After fifteen years, I recognized an insult dressed as a favor.
With two kids and a full-time job, apparently I was also supposed to look twenty-five forever.
We’d been divorced for six months. I’d discovered his affair with Christy, his younger secretary, the previous winter. He never apologized.
“I told you to lose the baby weight faster,” he said. “Men are visual. I want an attractive woman by my side, and you’re not that anymore.”
With two kids and a full-time job, apparently I was also supposed to look twenty-five forever.
I didn’t miss him. I missed the person I thought he’d been.
Jason told people we’d “grown apart.” Whenever I objected, he warned against upsetting the kids. Our daughter, Ava, began anxiously watching our faces.
“Please come. Christy’s doing a haunted maze. Ava says I’ll cry, but I won’t.”
“Mom?” Ava asked from the doorway. “Was that Dad?”
“Yep.”
“Are you coming to our Halloween party?”
Ben, her younger brother, appeared in a pirate hat.
“Please come. Christy’s doing a haunted maze. Ava says I’ll cry, but I won’t.”
Jason and Christy had bought the place that fall.
“You cried when the toaster popped,” Ava said.
“It surprised me!”
They both looked at me.
“Of course I’ll come,” I said.
They cheered. I dreaded entering Jason’s new house.
Jason and Christy had bought the place that fall. Ava and Ben couldn’t stop talking about their new bedrooms.
I ignored the jabs for the kids’ sake.
Christy had a son I’d never met. They still lived near his school until the renovations were finished.
Jason sent renovation photos. Christy once suggested removing my wrinkles so someone might notice me.
I ignored the jabs for the kids’ sake.
Still, I dreaded arriving alone. Then I realized I didn’t have to.
Two days later, my friend Nina arrived with candy and a suggestion.
“We knew each other in college and reconnected recently.”
“Bring a date,” she said.
“From where? The produce aisle?”
Nina glanced at my phone when it buzzed.
“Who’s Daniel?”
“An old friend. We knew each other in college and reconnected recently.”
“He’s single?”
Neither of us liked discussing our exes, and I’d never asked her name.
“Yes.”
“Then ask him.”
I nearly spilled my tea.
Daniel and I talked about books and starting over. Sometimes we met for coffee. He listened without trying to fix things.
