I had calmed down, but when I heard that I got angry again. But before I could say anything she hurried on. “Anyway, I’ve learned so much about myself from all this, Thomas, and I know I’d be so much better of a wife if you’d only come back. Can’t you find it in your heart to forgive me? It would make me so happy. Everything would be back the way it was. What do you think, honey?”
I’d been watching her as she spoke. Her appearance was exactly as I remembered it and her voice was the same, but now something was different. Then I realized what it was: I know longer loved her.
“Ginny, I’ve been listening carefully to everything you’ve said,” I told her. “In all the time you’ve been talking, there are two things I haven’t heard. You’ve made very clear what you want and how you feel, but you haven’t once mentioned me and my feelings,” I said.
“Well of course I’m concerned about how you feel,” she interrupted. “I know you were very hurt and upset, and you had every right to be. But if we get back together I’ll spend all my time making it up to you and . . .”
I held up my hand and she finally realized that I wasn’t through. When she stopped, I went on. “There was something else I didn’t hear either. I heard you say a lot of things, but you never once said, ‘I love you.'”
She gasped and then blurted out, “But of course I love you. That’s a given. I’ve always loved you and . . .”
Now I was the one who interrupted. “No, Ginny, love is not a given. It’s not something you say, it’s something you show in your actions. It’s not just what you do but also what you don’t do. And you don’t show your love by cheating with someone else just because he fills your ears with pretty words. I’m sorry, Ginny, but this call has made me even more certain that we aren’t ever getting back together. Goodbye, Ginny.”
I broke the connection, leaving the image of her tear-stained face on the screen. It still hurt to lose someone who had meant so much to me at one time, but after listening to her I knew I had done the right thing.
December 31, two years later
I’d been at a party with friends earlier in the evening, but it somehow seemed appropriate to spend the New Year’s Eve countdown at the bar I’d found that first year in New Zealand, the one overlooking Auckland Harbour. The other patrons had welcomed me back then, and I felt welcome again as I lifted a pint and stared out at the fireworks display.
The last two years had been good to me. Ginny had finally bowed to the inevitable and agreed to the divorce. I’d given her the house in lieu of further spousal support, and I was now legally a free man. My career was also doing well. After a year with the bank I’d built enough of a reputation as a cyber-security expert to begin consulting on my own. Once again, luck gave me a boost when the National Cyber Security Centre in Wellington came to me asking for help. That had given me a kind of semi-official stamp of approval, and now my business was booming. It also gave my permanent residency application the push it needed, and I was now officially a Kiwi. And thanks to the money my consulting business was earning, I was able to buy a nice home with a view of the Auckland Harbour. All in all, I was glad I’d made the big move.
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