Rules Bend, Just Not for Me novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Card
An anniversary bouquet arrives with another man's thank-you card for his wife, and Jasper tells his lawyer to draft the divorce papers.
The bouquet arrived at two o'clock on our fifth anniversary, and it was not meant for me.
I was smiling when I signed for it.
Hellebore with dark petals, wrapped in cream paper, the flower I had carried to my father's funeral.
I thought Sabine had finally remembered.
Then I read the card tucked between the stems.
"Dr. Aldous, thank you for flying out to save my aunt. My whole family owes you. I picked these because they felt like us. Tobin."
My hand opened, and the flowers hit the floor.
Tobin Ellerbee was the charge nurse on her floor.
Last week Sabine told me she was at a three-day conference.
She had flown out and operated on his aunt.
Three years ago my father needed heart surgery that our small county hospital back home could not do.
He was too weak for a long transfer.
I begged Sabine to fly home and operate on him herself.
"The hospital bans outside surgery," she said. "Work is work. I don't break rules for personal connections."
My father died in the back of an ambulance, halfway to the next city.
I chose hellebore for his funeral because it was his favorite.
For three years I told myself that everyone has a line they won't cross.
Now I knew her line moved.
It just never moved for me.
I called Heath Kavanagh, my best friend and my lawyer.
"Draft the divorce papers," I said. "As fast as you can."
"Jasper, slow down." I could hear him standing up. "You shut your studio for her. You turned down every magazine in New York."
"I know."
"You had a vasectomy because she said childbirth scared her."
"I know what I did."
"Then why?"
I looked at the flowers on the floor.
"Because of some flowers."
Sabine came home at seven.
She hung up her coat and looked at the bare dining table.
"Where's dinner?"
"I didn't cook."
"I stood in an operating room for nine hours."
The television in the living room was still on.
A diaper commercial came up, and she walked into the kitchen and stayed there until it ended.
I had never asked her about that.
I stayed at the table with my laptop open and my eyes on the screen.
Her phone lit up on the counter.
She had it to her ear before the second ring.
"What's wrong?"
A man's voice came through the speaker, soft and shaky.
Her whole face loosened, and she almost smiled.
"Breathe. I'm coming."
Women laughed behind him on the line.
"Dr. Aldous, rescue him again!"
"He won't calm down until you get here!"
She pulled her coat back on.
"Tobin?" I said.
Her hands stopped on the zipper.
"A patient crashed and he can't handle it alone. Don't start imagining things."
I watched her walk to the door.
"Sabine."
She looked back. "What?"
"Do you know what today is?"
She thought about it.
"Tuesday?"
I laughed.
She stood in the doorway and studied my face.
"Never mind," I said. "Go save him."
Her voice came out stiff.
"Do you want me to bring you something to eat?"
"No."
I would never need anything from her again.
After she left, I took down the banner I had hung that morning and pushed it into the trash.
Then I opened my laptop and typed: Route 66 road trip.
My father and I had a deal. One car, one camera, the whole road from Chicago to the ocean.
After he died, Sabine held my hand and promised she would go in his place.
She never had the time.
So I gave up my studio, and my name on the door, and became Dr. Aldous's husband.
I had told myself the trade was worth it.
That was the funniest joke I ever told.
I drove to the restaurant I had booked a week ago.
Candles. Couples leaning across tables. One empty chair across from me.
The waiter came by twice.
"Sir, is your guest still joining you?"
"No."
She never was.
I called a car dealership from the table.
"I need an SUV that can take a cross-country road," I said. "Budget is eighty thousand."
They had one on order. It would reach the lot in a week.
"I'll take it in a week."
Seven days was long enough to end a marriage.
At nine my phone buzzed.
"The papers are in your inbox," Heath said. "Jasper. Five years. Can you really walk away?"
"Have you ever seen Sabine break a rule for anyone?"
"No. Never."
"I have. Last week."
Out the window, the street was lit and cold.
"Just not for me," I said.
Behind me, the front door opened, and the manager's voice carried across the room.
"Dr. Aldous! Your table is ready."
I turned around.
Sabine walked in with Tobin at her side.
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