“Shit, where is it?... If I can’t find these papers, I’m gonna go crazy,” said Joanne.

               “Hey mom, have you found your tax papers yet?  It’s almost 7:30 and I don’t want to be late this time,” said her daughter.

 

               Joanne looked up at her daughter with a blank face.  “Ugh yeah, I’m very close to finding them. Just give me two minutes honey and we can leave,” she said.

 

               Joanne scrambled through her file cabinet for her W-2 form.  She searched and searched until she came across a familiar document.  It read, “Decree of Divorce, Children, Support and Spousal Support… ” Joanne thought back to when she first signed the papers with Ron sitting across from her at the table.  They had exchanged awkward looks and then Ron decided to break the silence.

 

“Well,…” he said.

“Well,” she said.

“I’m really sorry it came to this.”

“Me too.”

“You were my muse.”

“You were something.”

“Well that’s rude.”

“What?”

“That’s pretty damn rude to say,” he said.

“It’s the truth, we don’t work well together. This is the end.”

“Damn.”

“You need to stop acting like the victim and you know it.”

“Whatever.”

“Okay, so you’re going to act like that now?  Really?”

Joanne could remember how it became silent again.  A question was roaming around in her head, so she thought, “It’s now or never.”

“Did you ever trust me?” she asked.

“A little.”

“A little?”

“I was never sure if you ever told me the truth. But this just proves it.”

“Okay, whatever.”  Joanne was actually hurt by his comment but she told herself to not show her weak side.

“A-ha, now the tables have turned.”

“Ha-ha.  Very funny.”

“I know right, I’m a comedian.”

“Seriously?  Get right,” she said.

“Kay.”

“Now I have a question,” he said.

“Yes?”

“Did you ever believe in me?”

“Yes, actually I did.  I just knew you were capable of great success,”  she said.

“I do appreciate that and I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

“Yea, I’m sorry too.”

“Well now I feel stupid.  And I also feel that I could have been a better partner.”

“I mean, we had some good times in the past.  We live and learn, right?” she asked.

“Yea, true.”

“I just wish that we can rewind time and start over.”

“Too late now,” he said.

They both stared off in the distance as silence crept in the room again.

“Here you go,” he said.

“Uh thanks…there it is.  It’s official.”

“I just want to say that I’m sorry again for how things ended.”

“I have one more question,” she said.

“Yea,” he said.

“Did you fell out of love with me?” she asked.

“No, we might have argued a lot but I never fell out of love with you.”

 

               Joanne remembered how shocked she was at Ron’s answer.  She always thought that he fell out of love with her and wanted out.  Apparently her thoughts were wrong.

 

               “Was this divorce my fault?”  she thought.

 

               Before she could answer her own question, her daughter came back in the office complaining about school.  “Mom? Mooooom? MOM?!?” she yelled.

 

               “Yes honey, I know.  Go get your backpack.  Don’t forget to turn off the tv, you forgot last time,” Joanne said.

 

               As Joanne packed her lunch for work, she just couldn’t stop thinking about how her and Ron got to this point in their lives.  Right as Joanne and her daughter are getting in the car, she realized she still hadn’t found her W-2 form. “Oh well, I’ll just find it later after work.”  She thought.