Deadly Divorces by Tammy Cohen Read Free Book Online

failure into his life. His perfect existence would turn out to be flawed just like everyone else’s. No longer would people look at him as a man who has everything, no longer would he command total respect. His grand design would be thwarted and he would be just like anyone else. And it would be all Jenn’s fault.
    Where do you start to chart the timeline of the disintegration of a marriage? Is it the first argument or the first doubts? Maybe it’s the first time he forgets her birthday or she falls asleep without curling into his back. In the end it doesn’t matter where the rot starts, what matters is how it finishes. And once the unravelling begins, the finish comes all too quickly.
    Thanksgiving 2004 was an uncharacteristically tense affair for the Barber family. As usual the whole clan weregathered together – this year at Heather’s house in nearby Dawsonville, with its motley zoo of pet animals and fenced-in back yard with the grass worn bald in the places where the kids particularly liked to play. Although the family enjoyed spending time together and watching all the small cousins racing around and stuffing themselves with food when they thought no one else was looking as usual, there was an edge to the atmosphere as never before.
    Usually urbane and convivial at these occasions, Bart seemed ill at ease and withdrawn. Unusually, he spent much of the day on his own, out on the porch or in the basement. When he did join the family, he was sombre and out of sorts. At 6pm he got to his feet and announced his family was leaving. ‘Aw, no!’ protested the boys. ‘Why do we have to go so early?’ But Jenn knew better than to antagonise her husband. She told the boys that if their father was determined to leave, they’d better start getting ready to go. The others tried to talk them into staying. Family occasions just weren’t the same without everyone there. Besides there was something about Bart’s manner, something about the tight set of his mouth and the suppressed anger in his eyes that concerned them. They’d all witnessed Bart’s displays of temper and wanted to keep Jenn and her kids safely with them.
    But Jenn knew her husband and she understood that the longer she delayed leaving, the angrier he would get. Better to get it over with now then at least her family would be free toenjoy the rest of their day without the constant undercurrent of friction. Besides, maybe it would all blow over. Perhaps it was one of Bart’s sudden mood swings that would be forgotten by the time they got home. Unfortunately this was one mood that wasn’t going to go quite so quickly. You see, the ever-wary Barton Corbin had decided it was time he started to look into exactly what his wife was doing all those long hours spent online with her long, capable fingers tap-tapping over the keyboard, her unruly blonde hair pushed behind her ears. What he discovered incensed him beyond reason. Not only had his wife developed an intense and intimate friendship with a stranger online but she was also divulging details of their marriage. For the privacy-loving dentist, this was the grossest betrayal.
    There are some occasions where you know before you even get into the car that this is going to be a nightmare journey. Those are the times when you drag out the goodbyes at the kerbside or linger while filling up the boot of the car with children’s toys and empty dishes long since cleared of the food you lovingly prepared for the family feast. These are the times when you fuss unnecessarily about strapping your protesting children into the back seat and take a deep breath before opening up the passenger door. The times when you prepare yourself for the blast of barely repressed anger that hits you like a sledgehammer before you’ve even sat down. And the drive home from Heather’s house was such an occasion.
    Barton Corbin was fuming. All day long he’d allowed his rage and resentment to build up, stifling it behind a façade of