by Sayra Bovard

Created on: February 18, 2009

She kept coming back to that picture of them dancing. It was the one that haunted her constantly. They were dancing, a line dance if she remembered correctly, not that it mattered. They were arm in arm, each with a beer in hand, he handsome in his tux and her in the red bridesmaid dress. What bugged her was that they looked like they were having so much fun. He looked happy in the picture. It was that picture, or at least the idea behind it that represented the whole reason she finally left.

She took the easy way out, the coward's way, her father called it. But she didn't care. She waited until he left for work on the last Friday of the month. She planned to start packing as soon as he pulled out of the drive way but she fell back asleep after he left. By the time she woke up it was 8:30 am and he had been gone for three hours. "Oh crap!" she said aloud to no one, sitting up and tossing the covers onto the floor. She fumbled for her glasses on the night stand as she got out of bed. She got her suitcase out of the closet and started packing her favorite clothes. She had worried that he would wonder why the suitcase was in the bottom of the closet and not in the attic, but as usual, he didn't notice.

All week she had been making mental lists in her head about what she needed to pack. There was a chance she would get a chance to come back and get the rest, but there was also the chance that she would not be coming back to this place, ever. Along with her best and favorite clothes, she had a box of books, three photo albums, her address book, a camera, and four hundred dollars in cash. This was just the money she had taken from their joint account. Unbeknownst to her husband, she had started a separate bank account two months after they were married. At first she thought it would be a nice surprise to save some money and surprise Tyler with something on his thirtieth birthday. As time went on, it became something she had of her own, that made her feel like she was still her own person.

After taking a shower, getting dressed and packing all the belongings into her car, she called her sister. "Hey, I am leaving for the airport now. My plane gets in at 1:30. Will you be there to meet me?"

"Yeah. I will get a taxi to the airport. Are you sure that you want to do this?" Her sister was the only person that knew she was leaving. She hadn't even told her parents yet. "Does Tyler know your coming?"

"Yes, I am sure and no, he doesn't. You didn't tell Mom and Dad did you? I really think they are going to hate me over this." Her voice started to crack and tears were beginning to well up in her eyes. "They really think he can do no wrong."

There was a pause on the other end of the line. Then her sister asked "Do you tell them what happened?"

"No because I think that they will tell me to give him another chance and to stay and work it out. I am afraid they will pick him over me. You know what; let's not talk about this now. I will deal with it when I get there."

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