The Ex Files

The Shadow of the Elephant

"He totalled your car, and now he's blaming you?" Kelly asked incredulously.

"He says I should have informed him that it was not in perfect running condition. What did he expect? It's nine years old."

He's an ass, Kelly wanted to say. A total, complete, utter ass. But she couldn't say that to the ex-wife of the man she was dating.

They hadn't had much time to get to know each other in the two weeks since Kelly moved in. Kelly was working overtime shifts in an effort to pay Eleanor the rest of the rent and damage deposit. She felt guilty about the wrecked car. Maybe, if she had gone to lunch with Hal, she could have prevented the accident. Or maybe she would have been a patient in the hospital where she worked in the housekeeping department.

She had gone to Hal's directly from work every day since the accident, listening to his interminable whining while she cleaned up after him. An ambulance had taken him to ER after the crash and he had missed his appointment with his Very Important Client With Substantial Financial Resources to Invest, and had lost the account to a rival advisor. Kelly wanted to remind him that he was fortunate to be unscathed sufficiently to return to work without having to take time off to heal of his injuries, but she knew that would only unleash further histrionics, so she kept her head down and her mouth shut. When it was time to go home, she took the bus. She didn't feel up to being caught in the middle of another encounter between Hal and his ex.

Hal had a Very Important Meeting this evening, so her services were not required. When she came home from work, Eleanor was making a smoothie and asked Kelly if she would like one too. One thing led to another, and now they were sprawled comfortably in the living room with their feet up, ignoring all the chores that screamed to be done. The more they talked, the more Kelly was drawn to Eleanor's motherly qualities.

Kelly was an only child whose parents had never been particularly nurturing.   She had not seen them since she was nineteen.  When they decided to take up residence in her father's birthplace, Hawick, in Scotland, they did not invite her to come along.  From time to time, her mother would extend a lukewarm invitation to visit, but Kelly never found the time or the money.  She could imagine sharing a reasonably pleasant life with Eleanor until Hal decided that he wanted to make their relationship more permanent.   

If only Eleanor were not Hal's ex!  Hal was  the perpetual elephant in the room.  Despite Kelly's irresistible attachment to Hal, she could not overlook the fact that he had turned a bad situation into a disaster when he totaled Eleanor's car and left her without transportation.

Kelly knew that there was more to life than Hal. She knew she should think about other things, talk about other things, do things on her own instead of living in his shadow. She had read four different books about healthy boundaries, and she knew that she had virtually no boundaries at all where Hal was concerned.

Every conversation she had inevitably drifted into being about Hal. A couple of her friends at work had informed her that she was becoming incredibly boring. If she kept this up, she would soon have no friends at all.

She glanced over at Eleanor, who was starting to doze off in her recliner. At least she didn't have to try to think of a way to tactfully steer the conversation away from the wrecked car.

Her phone chirped, announcing a text message.

My pen ran out of ink, and I don't have a spare. Could you be an angel and bring me a couple?

Damn the man! Any normal person would scrounge a pen from somewhere and carry on, but Hal was partial to designer writing tools and insisted that he could not think without his Excelsior Pro with #5 navy blue ink.

Her finger hovered over the keyboard on her phone. Your angel is off-duty tonight, she typed, then quickly deleted it. Sorry, I have an emergency of my own going. She deleted that as well. What emergency of hers could possibly be more important than his pen? I'm too damn tired to ride three different buses just so you can have your preferred pen! No, that would unleash his "Sweetheart, must you be so adversarial?" lecture.

She considered waking up Eleanor and asking her what to do. Eleanor would probably tell her to break up with Hal and move on. After all, that's what she had done, even though it meant selling a gorgeous home with a second mortgage.

Kelly's phone rang. She sighed and answered.

"Didn't you get my text?" Hal asked, with a note of breathless panic in his voice.

"I did. I was just composing a reply."

"I was hoping you'd be on your way by now. Sweetheart, I really need you to do this for me."

The reproachful tone in his voice unleashed the usual mixture of guilt and resentment. She tried to think of something to balance the two. No way did she want to go out on a fool's errand tonight, but she didn't want to wound his feelings either.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I'm in the middle of cooking dinner for Eleanor, and ... Oh! Something is burning. See you tomorrow." She disconnected without waiting for him to answer.

"What are you making for dinner?" Eleanor asked. Her eyes were open and she was smiling.

Kelly smiled back. "I could do a pizza, I guess."

"You can make pizza? From scratch?"

"Yeah. All we need is some yeast, flour, tomato sauce, cheese, and something for toppings. I'm pretty good at improvising."

"I don't have any yeast in the house," Eleanor said. "But I'll get some. I've never had home-made pizza. Could you teach me?"

"No problem," Kelly said. Cooking lessons might be a good excuse to get away from Hal once in a while. "You can save a lot of money if you make things at home instead of getting take-out."

Eleanor did not have a lot of groceries to choose from. They talked back and forth and decided on grilled cheese with bacon and tomato slices.

After they ate, Kelly automatically started washing the backlog of dirty dishes in the sink. Eleanor cleared off the kitchen counter, wiped it down, and started drying the dishes and putting them away. "Thank you for doing this, Kelly. I hate being in the kitchen, but it's a lot easier when there's someone else helping."

"My pleasure," Kelly said. That was almost true. Eleanor was better company in the kitchen than Hal would ever be.

"Shall we watch something on Netflix?" Eleanor asked.

"I have a better idea. I'll show you some pictures that I took of this house with my phone. We can put together a new ad and find places to post it besides Kijiji. If you don't get some more paying guests in here, you'll never manage to pay your mortgage."

Tears came to Eleanor's eyes. "I'm okay for now because I'm getting a lump sum payment for the car. But next month is another story."

"We'll get another renter in by then. Not a deadbeat like me. Someone who can afford to pay you the full amount on time."