The Ex-Wife Read Free Page B

listened to the caller on the line explaining why she was unhappy and why she felt neglected by her husband. Listening
     is the most important component of my job. Having compassion and understanding for people’s feelings is the one thing I think
     comes naturally for me. I needed the caller to redirect her focus, because positivity is the first step to any happy relationship.
    I said, “You really have to be thankful for the little things. Don’t focus so much on what he doesn’t do as opposed to what
     he does do. My dad’s favorite saying is ‘Accentuate the positives and eliminate the negatives.’ If you try that for one week,
     I bet you’ll feel differently about him and your relationship.”
    The caller didn’t say anything. So I continued, “You see what I’m saying?”
    “I guess it’s just hard for me to understand why he can go play golf all day and not even think about how I feel.”
    “When he’s out playing golf, he is thinking about you. He’s releasing stress, possibly making business deals. Despite what
     time he comes home, he’s happy. Right?”
    “No, ’cause he acts like I’m not supposed to say anything to him.”
    “You mean he acts like you’re not supposed to nag him. Just imagine you’re having a wonderful day and you come home to him
     asking you ‘Where’s dinner? Did you feed the kids? Did you wash the clothes?’ Wouldn’t that irritate you?”
    “Probably.”
    “I’m sure it would. You don’t want anybody blowing your high. It’s really that simple.”
    She laughed. “I never looked at it like that.”
    “Before you start flipping out on the brother, put yourself in his shoes.”
    “Thanks, Ayana. I’ll try that.”
    “You’re very welcome, girlfriend. And thanks for your call.”
    Quentin gave me a thumbs-up as we neared the end of another successful show. He loved my insight into men, women, and relationships.
     As if it weren’t enough that my words had the ability to talk a woman off the cliff or boost her self-esteem, Quentin’s response
     was a daily reminder that I was called to do this.
    I paused. “You’ve been listening to Girlfriend Confidential . I’m your host, Ayana Blue, and we have time for one more call.”
    Quentin signaled to me that there was a caller on the line. “ Girlfriend Confidential . Tell me what you want to talk about.”
    The caller cleared her throat. “I wanna talk about you.”
    “OK,” I said hesitantly, because I sensed agitation in her voice.
    This type of call came in at least once every few days: a woman who wanted to keep being a victim and disagreed with my trying
     to empower her. She huffed, “So you’re everybody’s good girlfriend, right?”
    “I’d like to think I am.”
    “If that’s the case, why did you fuck my husband last night? You fucking home-wrecker!”
    The engineer quickly disconnected the call, but her point had come across loud and clear on air. Everyone thought it was a
     random angry woman, but I knew I had gotten myself into some shit. Quentin winced and it was clear he knew the caller’s voice.
     The guilty look on my face probably didn’t help either.
    My heart pounded as I began to gather my belongings. The engineer joked about how crazy people were. I offered halfhearted
     chuckles, but all I could think about was calling Cam and getting to the bottom of this. The adrenaline in my body was on
     fast-forward as a million different thoughts stalked me. Is he really in a marriage as opposed to near divorce as he claimed? How did she know we’d been together? What if this was
     really just a prank call? No, it couldn’t be. There was no way some prank caller would know that I had recently slept with a married man.
    Quentin watched my frenzy in disbelief, sympathy in his eyes.
    “You need help?”
    “No, I’m good.”
    When the room cleared, I tried to avoid eye contact with Quentin. I could tell he wanted to ignore what he felt, but he couldn’t.
     Finally he said, “I knew