The suitcase was a masterpiece of planning. Inside were the linen dresses I’d saved for months to buy, the sandals specifically chosen for the cobblestone streets of Oia, and the vintage camera I’d bought to capture our 10th year of marriage. Santorini had been our dream for a decade. My mother was already in the kitchen, making pancakes for our kids, having cleared her entire week to ensure we had this time together.
Then, my phone buzzed.
Him: “Hey babe, change of plans. Mom’s upset, so I’m taking her to the Bahamas instead. Our trip is off. We’ll talk when I’m back.”
I read it once. Then twice. I called him, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“Where are you?” I asked, my voice trembling.
“Airport. We’re boarding now,” Brian said, his voice breezy, as if he were telling me he’d picked up milk instead of cancelling a $10,000 anniversary trip.
“Brian, we planned this for a year! The kids, the flights, the—”
“I knew you’d be reasonable,” he interrupted. “Love you!”
The line went dead. I stared at my packed bags. Then, a slow, cold fury started to build inside me, and I realized that for ten years, I hadn’t been a wife; I had been a placeholder for the woman who actually ran his life: his mother.
I didn’t cry. Instead, I walked into the kitchen. My mom looked up, seeing my face. “What’s wrong? Did you forget your passport?”
“Brian is on a plane to the Bahamas with his mother,” I said calmly. “Using our anniversary funds.”
The silence in the kitchen was heavy. My mother, a woman who had survived enough of life’s storms to know when to batten down the hatches, simply set down the spatula. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to Santorini,” I said. “But not with him.”
While Brian was sipping overpriced mimosas and listening to his mother complain about the humidity in Nassau, I was making calls.
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The Tickets: Brian had used the “travel fund,” but the Santorini bookings were in my name. I couldn’t get a refund on his flight, but I could certainly change the name on the second ticket for a small fee.
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The Guest: I called my best friend, Sarah. She had just finalized a grueling divorce and was buried in paperwork. “Pack a bag,” I told her. “We leave in six hours. Don’t bring your wallet.”
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The Locks: While we headed to the airport, I called a locksmith. If Brian felt he could make executive decisions about our life without consulting me, I could make a few of my own regarding the house.
Santorini was everything it promised to be. The blues were deeper, the sunsets more vibrant, and the wine crisper than I could have imagined. For the first three days, I kept my phone off. On the fourth day, I turned it on to a barrage of texts.
Brian: “Why aren’t you answering? Mom wants to know why her credit card was declined at the hotel.” Brian: “I just saw your Instagram. Who is that with you? Is that Sarah? Where are you??” Brian: “I’m coming home early. This is ridiculous. You’re being spiteful.”
I didn’t reply. I simply posted a photo of myself on a yacht, holding a glass of Assyrtiko wine, with the caption: “Celebrating 10 years of realizing my own worth.”
When I returned, the “slow, cold” feeling had settled into a permanent, hardened resolve. I arrived home two days before Brian. When he finally showed up, sunburned and dragging his mother’s luggage behind him, he found his key wouldn’t turn.
I opened the door just wide enough to hand him a single envelope.
“What is this?” he stammered, his mother hovering behind him, already starting to huff about the “rudeness” of the situation.
“Those are the receipts for the Santorini trip,” I said. “Since you used the joint savings for your mother’s vacation, I used the equity line for mine. Also, inside you’ll find the contact information for my lawyer. He’ll explain the rest.”
“You’re divorcing me over a trip?” Brian gasped.
“No,” I said, looking him straight in the eye. “I’m divorcing you because you thought I’d be ‘reasonable’ while you walked all over me. Go stay with your mother, Brian. You’ve already proven she’s the only woman in your life who matters.”
I shut the door and locked it. For the first time in ten years, the house was finally quiet.
