Broken is a story that is best read Chronologically to start from the beginning – Prologue
At this point after their family vacation Hailey was telling me how she had enough of James. I describe these things as transgressions because it’s their story is not mine to tell. But based on what she told me I could understand her losing her patience.
He would go back and forth between trying to keep her and driving her away. Which would ultimately overall drive her away. What I never saw was how clever Hailey could be about forcing an outcome or a direction. It was subtle and unexpected at times.
She would always take the quickest and easiest path to her. And then one day she says “we are selling the house, we have a perspective buyers and I could be out by June”. I was stunned for so many reasons. It was just a month ago they decided to separate and made plans for the fall. My first thought was I am not as close. While in my head I thought I wouldn’t make it til the end of the year probably not til the end of the summer as the heat was being turned up at home.
Not sure if it was women’s intuition or just a bad year for our marriage. But i was getting so many incidents where my wife would look for reassurance I was still in it for the long haul. It was brutal. I felt horrible and guilty I could no longer offer these to her. For so long she and the kids were my life. I dedicated everything to being the Dad. Our family dynamic was always strong. While so much attention was paid to our family, we lost sight of our marriage almost immediately after getting married. And it was catching up and we were paying for it.
Back to Hailey and James selling their house. I was nervous about her being single first but never selfish. I told her whatever was best for her, James and the kids. But I told her she didn’t need to rush. Especially not for me. But it did start many questions in the back of my mind… This is so impulsive, what would it mean for us, for her kids, for her life. I guess this was classic Hailey- Fire, Ready, Aim. Also are they ready? It takes time to unwind over a decade or more of marriage. She would always say they had to take the opportunity while they had buyers but I had questions about the prudence of it and whether this was a selfish act solely to get away from James, even if I could understand her need.
Broken 
It causes me concern to read this. Long marriages, even unhealthy ones, still need downtime after the separation. Leaving a marriage for another commitment seems rash, unwise. But based on how you described H, I can see why this was a concern for you.
Imagine, she’s single and needy, you’re still “doing the right thing”, carefully ensuring all ducks are in a row…
It sounds like a recipe for disaster. And again, heartbreaking. After all the connection, chemistry, love, things are now complicated and volatile.
You have a great voice and story telling ability.
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Thank you so much. I know I was doing something not quite right. But even if I were I wanted to go down the road with the most possible moral high ground. I never thought this would happen. As the song goes…. “I fooled around and fell in love”
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