A fictionalized comic story. All characters are adults.
Ten months after separating from my wife, I was still married on paper and becoming impatient with the paper. The relationship had ended after her affair. The paperwork seemed determined to enjoy a longer life.
One night at a bar, I ran into Hannah, my estranged wife’s aunt. She was only a little older than me and warmly announced that everyone in the family had liked me. This was reassuring information from a department whose records I had assumed were closed.
We talked, flirted, and went back to her place. I congratulated myself on beginning a less complicated chapter.
At two in the morning, her boyfriend came home.
It was not, as I briefly hoped, a title she used affectionately for the neighbor. He had keys, expectations, and an entirely understandable interest in why I was there.
What followed was less a dramatic confrontation than a very efficient end to the evening. I located my belongings with a speed I had never demonstrated while packing for a holiday. Hannah had a conversation to have, and my presence was not improving it.
Outside, I considered the elegance of my decision-making. I had escaped one dishonest situation and walked into another, this time with an additional connection to the family I was trying to disentangle myself from.
The unfinished divorce was inconvenient. It had not, however, forced me to choose the most administratively demanding person in the bar.
I went home alone. For once, this seemed like excellent progress.
