The Ex-Wife Playbook

Years later, Chloe, with her face just a little too much like mine, shows up cozying up to my husband, Ben.

I knew it.

This homewrecker’s daughter is trying to pull the same crap her mom did with my mom.

But I wasn't about to let that happen.

The same day, I left Ben a divorce agreement, snagged half his assets, and bailed.

Game over.

1.

Ben was totally blindsided when I hung up on him.

Six years of marriage, and I'd been nothing but sweet, calm, and collected – a total class act, as they say.

Even with his sassy daughter, I’d never shown a hint of impatience.

It wasn’t until he parked his car that it hit him: he’d seriously put his foot in it.

“Chloe’s your sister, for crying out loud. How am I supposed to trust you to be a mom when you're so bitter about your family?”

He adjusted his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Okay, he had a point.

Just before our fight, Chloe was all teary, saying she was gonna quit. Then his daughter, Lily, had called whining about me cutting her allowance, making her look bad at school.

He wasn't actually doubting me. He was just being worn down by all the drama.

He started the engine, and a wave of anxiety hit him – me getting mad like that was so unlike me.

He sped home, arriving ten minutes earlier than usual.

A soft light glowed from our bedroom window, and Ben let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and headed upstairs.

He found a divorce agreement sitting on the small table.

2.

From the second I saw Chloe working at Ben’s office – as his secretary, no less – to when I packed my bags, less than three hours had gone by.

Three hours later, I was over 500 miles away, crashing at my mom's in Boston.

She opened the door, her eyes huge as if I'd just escaped a burning building.

“I told you getting married wasn't such a great idea,” I said.

After my mom was pushed out by Chloe’s mom and left with nothing, she remarried and became a stepmom.

She's good people. She treated her stepkids like her own, and when we reconnected, she'd moved on from the mess.

She wanted me to settle down, get hitched.

She had a serious surgery a few years back, and I couldn’t bring myself to say no to her. So, I chose Ben, a single dad with a three-year-old, from a pile of profiles.

She didn't want me playing stepmom, but I told her, if I had to marry anyone, it’d be Ben.

She hugged me, crying, “Without love or kids of your own, that's the worst kind of marriage.”

But I didn't care.

No love, no kids, meant that I, Olivia, could make a clean break any time I wanted.

3.

Chloe's appearance did hit me like a truck.

But it wasn’t my marriage with Ben that got rocked.

For six years, we’d been polite, almost strangers sometimes, mostly because of me.

Like a deer drinking, careful and ready to bolt.

Ben had complained more than once about my emotional distance.

We'd never had a deep kiss.

Last night, when we got close, he went straight for my lips.

I pulled away like usual, and he grabbed my hands, pulling me in.

“No…” I turned ...