Page 85 of Heartless

“Fuck! You sound just like her. I’ve told her that she’s taking the fun out of everything; sex, conversation, marriage, living. All she talks about is having a goddamn baby and nothing else. That shit sucks the life out of me!”

Shep stares at me so long that I can’t help but tell the truth.

“That wasn’t it alone, Shep. I cheated, and she found out about it before I could tell her.”

Shep lifts his eyebrows knowingly.

“Who?”

“Sharla.”

“Sharla Watson? As in your ex who broke your heart?”

“Yes. She works for me now.”

“Damn. I can see why she’d want to divorce you.”

“What?”

“Dude, you’re fucking heartless.”

“Me?” I ask, pointing a finger at myself.

“Yes, you.”

Scoffing, I reply, “Fucking irreconcilable differences; that’s what she’s basing it on. But we have to live apart for at least one year for it to be granted.”

“And you’re going to give that to her without a fight?”

“I don’t know how to find her. I want to go to her and make her feel my love, but I have no idea where she’s at.”

“If it’s meant to be, it will happen, someday, somehow.

***

“Mr. Maxwell, I’ve searched all over, and I haven’t been able to locate your wife,” Craig Baumgartner, the investigator that I hired, says.

“What about her parents?”

“I’ve had a team of men on her parents for the last three weeks, and they haven’t led us to her. I haven’t gone as far as tapping their phones because that’s against the law...”

“No. I don’t want you to do that. I’ll have a conversation with them myself.”

“That’s fine. I have one other option in mind if all else fails.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t want to make promises that I can’t keep. So, let me see what I can work out, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. I haven’t given up on finding her, though.”

“All right. Talk to you later,” I say, ending the call.

I rest my head against the steering wheel for several minutes before I finally push the door open and get out of the car.

I walk up the cobblestone sidewalk and onto the front porch. This is one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done.

I know that going into these people’s house and admitting that I’ve screwed up with my wife is just what they’ve been waiting for. I know that they’ll rejoice that she finally left my ass and will probably be on her side to stay hidden.

But this is my last resort. I don’t know what else to do after this.