The Tales of a Future Hockey Wife

Chapter 66: Glue

~Eleanor~

The next morning, I open my eyes when I feel the coldness of the sheets on my right side. It's the kind of coldness that has been accumulating for hours. Every trace of human warmth is long gone. I sit up straight in my bed only to notice the bag Ben had put his belongings in is no longer on the floor. I hurry out of the room wearing only pajama shorts and a camisole. My first instinct is to head towards Ophelia's room even if I am certain that Ben wouldn't leave with our daughter without telling me.

My heart rate slows down nonetheless when I spot Ophelia's small body in her crib. The throw I leave on the rocking chair is on the floor right next to the crib. Images of Ben sitting on the floor to be near his sleeping daughter bring tears to my eyes. Glued to the crib, I spot a sheet of paper. I grab it and try to read through my unstopping tears.

For now, it's best we go our separate ways,

but I'll always be there for you and Ophelia.

Love you both forever, Ben xxx

My knees give up on me once I have assimilated what his words mean. He did not use those words, but I know Ben well enough to know that he broke up with me. He couldn't stand the constant thoughts of me living with another man, so he preferred to let me go completely. I hate his decision, but I understand it. What I can't understand is his decision to leave without saying goodbye. I'll always hold against him the fact that he wasn't strong enough to say those words to my face. We have been through so much in our relationship. We overcame every battle, every disappointment. We rejoiced over every accomplishment and every victory, and instead of being happy for our most recent ones, we started thinking they pulled us apart. It wasn't hockey or literature who broke us up, it was how selfish we both became this past year.

I always thought that what was between Ben and I was glue. Crazy glue had joined our hearts and our lives forever the moment his eyes met mine in a hockey themed bar when we were sixteen. But now, I am twenty-one and he is twenty, and the crazy glue transformed into the kind of glue kids use to craft. It now is easily peelable and non-toxic which means that when Ben moved to Germany, he separated not only our hearts but our lives as well, and, when I moved to New York, I let the glue dry up. I just hope that we'll find our way back to each other before the special glue that brought us together still exists, and that we are not left looking like a big sticky mess that can't be put back together. I hope, for Ophelia's sake as much as mine, that we will prove everybody wrong. I hope everyone who said we were doomed from the start will see us, one day, be a family. Maybe, one day, we will be a family again. He won't be Ben and I won't be Eleanor. We will be Ophelia's family.

This is it! The last chapter of The Tales of a Future Hockey Wife! Some of you probably saw it coming, but don't worry, there's a second book whose first chapter will be up in a few days. Thank you again for reading, love you all.

Alexandra xxx