Transformation: Day 4

Word Count: 24,125

Summary of Events:

Gram told Elianne the results of Dad's eye exam: his vision had deteriorated significantly and was possibly a diabetic eye issue — seeing as he was diabetic — that might be too advanced to treat, meaning he could go blind, which would mean that Elianne would have to move somewhere too small for a horse to be kept, upsetting her. Taylor, bored with the grad party his grandparents had planned for him, slipped away under the guise of using the bathroom to a friend's much more fun party to which he'd been invited. Ian was tending to a horse that had hurt a muscle while panicking when the woman arrived early to chat with him again . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“You’re not married,” she said.

Ian paused his stroking  and glanced at the left hand with which he’d been doing the stroking, its ring finger was empty, as it had been for more years than Ian ever wanted to count. He said nothing, but he felt defensiveness rise in him.

“Have you ever been married?” she asked.

“Yes,” Ian replied, looking at the gelding’s ears, hoping they’d cue him to Dr. Fuller’s arrival at any moment.

“How many times?” she asked.

“Once,” he replied.

“What ended it?” she asked.

“Divorce,” Ian replied tightly.

“I’m glad divorce exists,” she replied. “I wouldn’t be able to get out of my marriage if it weren’t for it.”

What was taking Dr. Fuller so long? If she didn’t show up soon Ian was going to call her again and find out what was going on.

“Irreconcilable differences?” she asked.

“No,” Ian replied.

“Oh,” she said. “Abuse?”

“No,” Ian replied.

“Is there another reason to get divorced?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Ian replied. “Why do you want to divorce your husband?”

She swore. “Thinks about no one but himself. He’s the only person in the world who matters, we’re complete rubbish to him. I’ve never met more of a narcissist. It’s all about his needs and his wants and his desires and his dreams and his success, we’re just means to ends, if even that.”

Ian shifted his jaw. He didn’t like those comments, but he said nothing.

“It’s so liberating to finally get away from him and deal with my needs, wants, desires, dreams, and success,” she said. “I mean, I matter, after all, not just him.”

Still Ian held his silence and prayed Dr. Fuller would show up so this conversation would be over.

“Do you have any children?” she asked.

“No,” Ian lied.

“Lucky you,” she said. “I was foolish enough to have two children with that waste of time.”

And yet she had custody of them, Ian mused internally. With that kind of comment Ian questioned whether she loved her children at all.

“Unfortunately we’ve only just separated, but I’m intent to get the divorce proceedings underway here soon, as well as finding a job and a place to live that isn’t my parents’ home,” she continued. “Still, I can’t deny that I’m enjoying my freedom, I don’t know why I didn’t decide to do this sooner.”

The gelding’s ears flicked toward the main door, Ian started listening, hoping to hear Dr. Fuller’s wellingtons striding down the cement floor.

“How long have you been divorced?” she asked.

Ian barely managed to disguise his relief at the sound of wellingtons. “We’ll have to continue this conversation later, the vet’s here to see to him.”

“Oh, well I’ll go wait for the children then,” she said.

Gratefully Ian watched her walk away, replaced by the younger, more jovial Dr. Fuller, Mrs. Swan’s niece who had followed in her father’s footsteps and become a doctor of veterinary medicine.