Mercy | Relief

Chapter seven

We all sat down in her living room, where she serves us coffee and tea, but I don't have the appetite for either. I sat still, wanting Travis to not show up.

Never thought I would ever want that, but there is nothing I dreaded more than is to sit through a conversation with my ex-husband and his new fiancée.

Who both apparently don't remember I was once married to him.

Travis doesn't show up for the first ten minutes, and I thought that maybe he isn't coming. But, just my luck, he is just late.

"Ah, Travis, there you are! I was wondering where you were," Lucy says, embracing him, planting a kiss on his cheek.

I close my eyes.

"Yeah, sorry, the traffic is horrible at the supermarket," He says, and I open my eyes to see him handing Lucy some fruit.

She places it on the counter, and hand in hand, they both walk into the living room.

When his eyes meet mine, I see his body stiffen. Like he didn't know I'd be here.

Well, neither did I until a little while ago.

They sit in the loveseat, and Caryn strikes up a conversation with Lucy, and Susie jumps in, keeping the mood pumpy.

Travis sat quietly, answering any question that the girls have for him politely, but Lucy mostly reigned the conversation.

After a little while, Lucy suggests we go and eat. We all settle around the table, Caryn, and Susie on one side, with Travis and Lucy on the other. I am at the end of the table, farthest away from everyone else.

Which I don't exactly mind.

The food is delicious, the pork sandwiches hitting the spot. It is one of the first meals I had eaten since the girls got here that I am able to finish.

Lucy, as always, has a salad though. She tried her best not to eat meat when she is a teenager and has apparently kept it up.

During the meal, the girls asked Lucy and Travis how they met and how long they've been engaged.

I feel sick when they said for the past year and a half they were dating, and just recently they got engaged.

A year and a half. is Travis already secretly dating Lucy during the last few weeks of our marriage?

I continue to feel sick.

And of course, Caryn has to ask the question I don't want answered.

"When are you guys getting married?"

"August 17th," Lucy says, smiling as she looks at Travis.

Less than a year.

Until he is Lucy's.

If only I didn't want him back.

We soon have dessert, which just happened to be a few assorted cookies she got from a bakery.

I only made myself have one.

Lucy starts to clean up, and the girls help her. I start to help, but I don't miss the glare I get sent when I try.

So I excuse myself out to the back porch.

I find a swinging bench and take a seat. I swing back and forth quietly, watching the sunset slowly.

The door opens and Susie walks out, looking for me. She smiles when she sees me.

"Aren't you cold?" She asks, rubbing her arms as she takes a seat next to me.