Chapter 4 – Maya
I woke up and stretched. The light was too bright to open my eyes, but the movement beside me made me peek through one of the lids before closing it back up.
“Good morning, baby.”
I smiled at the man’s voice and kissed the lips that pressed against me. He was already so familiar that my body was trying to get more out of him then just a kiss. I was ready for more when I heard the vibration of my phone on the nightstand.
“Why is the ringer off?”
“That thing has been going off since about the time you passed out last night. I wanted to let you sleep.”
It was a thoughtful thing to do, and since I was sure it was Tyler calling because he was angry, I didn’t think much of it. I let Dylan pull me into his web of desire for a time before I finally got up and turned the phone back on. It was a lot of missed calls from a number I didn’t recognize. Whoever it was had wanted to get a hold of me badly.
Calling it back as I started to get dressed, I got a little panicky when I heard the voice tell me that it was the hospital. I didn’t know why they were calling me, but I had twenty missed calls. It would seem that whatever it was was important.
I gave the nurse my name, but she didn’t know who had been calling me all night or why. I hung up with a sense of dread and searched the missed calls to see if there were any others that would give me a clue as to what was going on.
There were a couple of missed calls from another number. When I dialed it a Dr. Loring answered the phone. When I told her my name, she explained who she was and that my husband was in the hospital. I didn’t ask her why she’d been with him in the hospital or anything else. I knew that I had to go to Tyler. He’d been shot, and whether our marriage was over or not, there were things that I had to do. I had to be there for my husband.
I told Dylan what was going on, and he offered to drive me to the hospital.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, Dylan. I’ll call you in a little while when I find something out.”
He was a little hurt, I think, but I knew that he was going to be okay. I wasn’t sure what was going on with Tyler, and the guilt of what I’d been doing instead of going with him was heavy on my shoulders. If I’d been there with him, maybe none of this would have happened. It was a long shot, but there was a chance…
***
I breathed a big sigh of relief when I got into his room. He was hooked up to some machines, but his eyes were open and he was sitting up. I’d thought of so many scenarios in my mind of how he would be, and this was not one of them. Save for the bandages on his chest, it would have appeared that he was fine.
“Maya, so good of you to show up.”
His tone revealed nothing, and the guilt about Dylan had me walking towards him a little more slowly. I was too unsure to play the game of perfect marriage that I’d been keeping up for all these years.
“I’m sorry. My phone died and…”
Tyler waved his hands like it was not a big deal and stopped me launching into an excuse of why I was not there for his surgery. I should have been by his side, but instead I’d been with another man. That was unforgiveable in my eyes.
“It’s fine, Maya. I know where you were, and I can’t say I blame you. I’ve been a shitty husband.”
What did he mean he knew where I’d been? Did he know about Dylan? The thought made my heart race. Why was he not looking upset? He just looked at me and said the words like it was all so matter of fact. Maybe it was to him.
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I, Maya, but I guess I learned something waking up like this.”
“What?” I didn’t think that I wanted to know, but he was the one lying in the hospital bed and I was the one who hadn’t been where I should have been. I was the one cheating this time, not him.
“Life is too short to be unhappy. You’re unhappy and so am I. It’s time to do something for us.”
I didn’t know what to say. Was he serious?
“What do you mean?”
“I know that you have the divorce papers. I saw them in the closet. I’m going to sign them for you. Take what you want. You know that I was going to take care of you for the rest of your life anyway. I don’t want to fight. I just want you to be happy.”
“Where is this coming from?”
He shrugged and told me that it was the first time he’d been able to think. When he asked me about Dylan, the whole thing seemed a little more surreal.
“Why do you want to know about him?”
“I just want to know that he’s going to take care of you, Maya. I still love you, even if I’m no good at showing it.”
“He’s kind to me.”
“Does he love you?”
“He asked me to marry him last night.”
Tyler had a bittersweet grin on his face. “You make a great wife.”
I was floored. I just nodded my head like an idiot. This wasn’t the Tyler I’d been married to for so long. This was the one I’d met years ago, before everything got complicated.
“I wish I’d made a better one for you.”
“You did, Maya. It was me that didn’t see it.”