Chapter 6 : Time to choose me

Rain tapped steadily against the windshield as I drove away from the Bowen house with four suitcases and a chest full of things I no longer knew how to carry.

I didn’t cry this time.

The tears had dried up somewhere between Diane Bowen calling me an embarrassment and Vanessa reminding me that Nyla “fit his world better.” Strangely, their cruelty hadn’t broken me the way it used to. 

Maybe because humiliation only worked when there was still something left to protect, but mine had already been destroyed.

I drove aimlessly for nearly twenty minutes before finally pulling into the parking lot of a small business hotel near downtown. It wasn’t luxury or comfort.

I got a room on the second floor which smelled faintly of bleach and old air conditioning, the bed was stiff and untouched. Funny how life could change in the space of a few days.

I dropped my purse onto the small table and sat at the edge of the bed, staring blankly ahead. My phone had been buzzing nonstop since I left the house, but I ignored it. I already knew who it would be. 

Gabriel’s family, mutual  friends pretending to care or people hungry for details.

I finally picked up the phone with a sigh, mostly intending to turn it off completely. But then I froze. There were twenty three missed calls from a strange number. 

My brows furrowed slightly. Who….just then, the phone buzzed again in my hand before I could finish the thought. 

After a second of hesitation, I answered. “Hello?”

For a moment, there was only static. Then a man’s voice cut through, “Mrs. Bowen?” My grip tightened slightly around the phone. “Yes?”

“This is Daniel Mercer from Harlow & Finch.”

I sat up straighter immediately. Harlow & Finch was the law firm I had wanted to work with after my graduation a few years back. 

It was not just any law firm, it was the same law firm I had interned at before marrying Gabriel. The same firm I walked away from when his career started taking off. The same firm I hadn’t heard from in years.

My pulse quickened. “There must be some mistake,” I said slowly. “There isn’t.” The man said with papers shuffling faintly on the other end.

“We’ve been trying to reach you regarding a pending matter left by Mr. Arthur Calloway.”

Arthur Calloway was a Senior partner. He was my mentor for a very long. The man who once told me I had one of the sharpest legal instincts he had ever seen.

The same man Gabriel hated because he believed Arthur encouraged me to prioritize my career over my marriage. I swallowed slowly. “What about him?”

Silence lingered for half a second, then he said “I’m very sorry to inform you that Mr. Calloway passed away three weeks ago.”

My breath caught. “What?” “He left instructions for you to be contacted personally in the event of his death.”

I stood from the bed without realizing it. None of this made sense. I had not spoken to Arthur in years. “There must be some mistake,” I said. 

“There isn’t,” the man replied calmly. “We’ve been attempting to reach you regarding the estate of Mr. Arthur Calloway.”

I walked toward the window, still trying to process what I was hearing. Mr Arthur believed in me, that I was aware of. But I was no member of his family. He had no reason whatsoever to include me in his will. 

“Before his death, Mr. Calloway requested that several of his active corporate clients and ongoing practice files be transferred to you.”

I blinked. “What?” “He wanted you to take over his legal practice.” A laugh almost escaped me from pure disbelief. “That’s impossible.”

“It’s already been processed.” “No,” I said quickly, pacing now. “I haven’t practiced law in years. I’m not even actively working in litigation anymore. I am a baker for Christ sake.”

“Mr. Calloway anticipated your hesitation.” Of course he did. Arthur always knew me too well.

“He left a personal letter for you,” Daniel added. “Along with instructions that you be given immediate access to his office.”

It all felt like a dream. I stopped pacing. Something about everything felt intensional. How on earth did I get something I waited my whole life for just when I thought my life was crashing down. 

“Why me?” I asked quietly.This time, Daniel’s answer came without hesitation. “Because according to Mr. Calloway, you were the most brilliant legal mind he ever trained.”

Then Daniel spoke again. “There’s one more thing.” “What is it?”  “He specifically requested that you review one unfinished file personally before deciding whether to accept the practice.”

“He believed once you saw what was inside…” My fingers curled tighter around the phone. “…you wouldn’t walk away from law again.”

This was my whole life, this was what I worked my ass out in college preparing for. I loved law, I wanted it more than I ever wanted anything else. But Gabriel took that away from me too.

Now that my marriage had hit rock bottom, I guess it was time for me to finally brace myself up. It was time for me to choose me. To choose the things I wanted for myself without considering how Gabriel will feel. 

For years, every decision I made somehow circled back to him. His comfort, his image, his schedule and his ambitions.

Even the smallest things like what restaurant we ate at, the dresses I bought, whether I stayed late at work or came home early were quietly filtered through the question: Would Gabriel like this?

And somewhere along the way, I had stopped asking myself what I liked entirely.

I sat down slowly on the edge of the hotel bed, my phone still in my hand from the conversation with Daniel Mercer. Arthur’s words echoed loudly in my mind despite the fact that they had been delivered secondhand.

The most brilliant legal mind he ever trained.

My throat tightened unexpectedly. I had forgotten what it felt like to be seen for something other than what I could give emotionally.

Somewhere between becoming Gabriel’s wife and becoming the woman everyone underestimated, I had buried entire parts of myself so deeply that even I stopped reaching for them.

But Arthur remembered. Even after all these years… he remembered. He believed in me more than I believed in myself. 

I remembered the day I came to him telling him I was done with Law. I could swear I saw a tear drop from his eye after he tried talking me out of my decision but failed. 

Even after all these years, he still believed in me. My eyes drifted toward the dark window across the room. My reflection stared back at me against the glass—tired eyes, swollen face and messy hair. I still looked like a woman whose life had just collapsed overnight.