Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 147540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
“So even after he lost his legs, he was the man you were going to marry,” Elsa remarked.
Peri grew still in her chair.
The air in Rix’s lungs grew still in his chest.
So when he whispered, “Shit,” it sounded winded.
“Peri, if you would, I’d like you to watch this,” Elsa invited.
Before Peri gave her approval, the visual of Elsa and Peri was lost as film of his bud from the crew, Jarrod, standing among a bunch of pines, wearing his blue firefighter tee, a microphone in his face, started rolling.
“Yeah, Rix was home from the rehab hospital exactly two days before she dumped him. And that was after she didn’t go to the hospital very much when he was in to be with him. Give him support. Be a part of the process when he was learning what his life was gonna be like and how to negotiate it. He got home, he was still in his chair, they were building his prosthetics and the swelling had to go down and his legs still had to heal from the surgery so he could get into that, and she was outta there. Coupla years later, he’s up and got a kickass job, doing cool shit for kids, and she wants him back. Like he’s been waiting for her. When he wasn’t. He found somebody else. Traded way the hell up. And I gotta tell you what all the guys are thinking, that woman reaching out to you to tell her story is all kinds of fucked up.”
Elsa and Peri came back on screen, and Peri looked struck.
“Is this true?” Elsa asked. “Did you wait until John had navigated the difficult journey back to a fully functional life and try to get him back?”
“No one calls him John,” Peri whispered.
“But is it true?” Elsa pushed.
Peri straightened her shoulders. “He wasn’t the man I agreed to marry. You don’t get it. No one thought about me. Everyone thought I was so terrible to take a break from our relationship when I did. But it was like that tree fell on me too.”
“No, I don’t get it. Because I have been told directly that you didn’t”—Elsa lifted her hands and did air quotation marks—“take a break from your relationship. You ended your engagement, returned his ring, moved out of the home the two of you shared, and went on with your life, leaving him to recover from a double amputation and then learn to walk again without the woman he loved there to support him.” Elsa’s voice turned frosty on her last, “And, let’s be very frank here, it is not in the slightest like that tree fell on you.”
Peri tried again. “The spouses of people—”
“Yes, the spouses and partners of people who experience traumatic events most assuredly experience their own traumas at watching someone they love have to deal with their circumstances. Have to adjust lives and even let go of dreams to make room to build new ones. And they are intimately involved with all that, doing the same themselves in their own ways.” Elsa turned to the camera, which tightened on her. “I think it’s important, my watchers, to understand that tragedy has tentacles. Some that may even surprise you. It is rarely only one who suffers.”
The visual of Elsa disappeared and onscreen was Nicole, his bud Rob’s wife. She was sitting on a bench outside by a beach, the wind blowing her brown hair. A microphone was in her face.
“He pushed Rob out from under that tree,” Nic shared. “He knew that tree was going to go, he ran to Rob, and he pushed him out from under. And it fell on him. I wake up at night. Rob wakes up at night. The guilt eats at him. At me. It could have been Rob. It should have been him. It wasn’t him because of Rix. I’m not telling you this so Rix will see it and feel bad. We love him, and not just because of this. He’s still tight with Rob, even though we don’t live close anymore. They text each other. They talk. They still give each other a ton of shit.” Nic busted out a smile. “That’s Rix and Rob. Always the same. That never changed.” Her smile died. “I’m just telling you this because that woman wants to make this about her. And it’s about a lot of things. It’ll always be about a lot of things. For me, it’s about how deep my gratitude goes that Rix gave what he gave so my husband didn’t have to give anything. So yeah, it’s about a lot of things. The only thing I know for sure it’s not about. It’s not about her.”
The onscreen visual went back to Elsa and Peri.
“Do you have anything to say to that?” Elsa asked.