Chapter 24 - Echoes of Syracuse
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I was charting patient notes in my office when my personal phone buzzed on the desk. The caller ID flashed a Syracuse area code. I didn't need to answer to know who it was. Lorraine had a habit of calling from different numbers, refusing to accept that she had been permanently blocked from my life.
I let it go to voicemail.
Ten minutes later, the notification popped up. Against my better judgment, a morbid curiosity compelled me to listen to the transcription.
“I hope you’re happy with yourself,” Lorraine’s voice began, her tone dripping with that familiar, theatrical martyrdom. “Andrew is suffering terribly. He can barely get out of bed. The stress you are putting him through with this legal nonsense is destroying his health. You always were so cold, so clinical. Real family helps each other in times of need. If you had an ounce of decency, you would drop this lawyer foolishness and help the man you promised to love.”
I stared at the screen. The sheer audacity of her logic was breathtaking. Andrew was the one suing me. Andrew was the one who cheated. Yet, in Lorraine's twisted universe, I was the villain for refusing to be their financial life raft.
A year ago, that voicemail would have triggered a massive panic attack. I would have spent hours agonizing over whether I was, in fact, a terrible, unfeeling person. I would have drafted a dozen text messages trying to defend my actions, desperately seeking her impossible approval.
Now, I felt absolutely nothing.
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I didn't feel angry. I didn't feel guilty. I just felt a profound sense of relief that this woman was no longer my problem. I pressed the delete button, erasing her voice from my phone and my mind. I picked up my pen, turned back to my medical charts, and went back to work.
Silence really was the ultimate luxury.
