The Day that Hell Froze

Everyone says that they will do something "when hell freezes over," and they mean that as a way to say that that will never happen. This story starts the day right before, in my mind, hell froze over and is about what happened to me on that day.

I suppose that I should start off by introducing myself... my name is Anna and I had just turned 23. I had graduated college with a Bachelors in Business Management a few months before and almost immediately got a job managing a local business. My (now ex) boyfriend had said that he'd leave me, "when hell froze over." But, I am getting ahead of myself...

"Anna! Hey, Anna!" The black-hair popped through the crowded street corner before I saw the rest of Denise and I grinned. Denise was my best friend and other than being much shorter than I was, she and I could be twins.

"Hi Denise, what's up?" I walked slower as she fell into step next to me on the street crossing.

"What is up is that your boyfriend is cheating on you Anna."

I laughed. Denise hated Patric - and always was coming up with some new reason to do so. "Really? How do you figure that?"

"Isn't he on yet another 'work trip' without you?"

"Yes Denise. I could have gone, but you know that I am needed to manage the shop. I trust Patric - he really is a great guy, you know?"

"Sure... yep... you keep saying that... but... have you seen his Insta account???" Denise sounded extra stressed about things this morning.

"Denise, I'm sure that whatever photo you found has a reasonable explanation and you know that I don't check social media very often. I am busy enough in the real world!" I felt my voice soften to offset the irritation that I was feeling build up in me. It wasn't Denise's fault that she didn't understand how healthy relationships worked as she had never had a guy last more than 4 weeks without showing that he was a scumbag.

"Anna, please... before you get to the shop, you need to look at this photo..." Denise darted in front of me and thrust her phone towards me.

I never did make it into work yesterday...

The photo showed Patric intimately holding a woman who looked nothing like me: her curly, red hair and green eyes framed by glasses was a stark contrast to my straight black hair and brown eyes. But, that wasn't the worst thing in that photo... they were joined by 2 boys and a girl who had their mother's hair, but their physical features - like their noses and chins - were definitely Patric's.

The caption read, "I can't give my family enough credit for my success. Without Audree's patience and dedication to our 3 kids, I wouldn't be able to be nominated for the 30 under 30 award!"

Yesterday had passed in a blur and the heat had started around midnight.

Fitting I suppose that Patric had said that he'd leave me when hell froze over, but now that I was leaving him... hell seemed to have been brought to this realm.

I didn't confront the cheating bastard. Patric hadn't cheated on me after all. We had only been seeing each other for the past 2 years. Those children of his were 8, 5, and 3. I was the "other woman" without ever knowing it.

The heat kept rising as I slowly, methodically extracted my life from what I thought was "our life." Bank accounts balanced down as I took out what I had put into them, then my name removed. My half of the closet and dresser - emptied and sent with Denise where I would be staying for a couple of weeks. My key returned to the landlord - and my portion of the lease paid off. The temperature kept rising as I reset my life to "single" ... not quite ready to mingle.

Denise kept checking in with me, worried about how much I was doing in the record-breaking heat. I appreciated her thought, but the day wasn't hot enough to slow me down. My mind was made up on how I was going to handle this.

My boss didn't handle it well when I quit... "No! You can't quit like this Anna... Patric has a unique situation, yes, but if you quit, I don't know what any of us will do! Please please please stay!"

I laughed a cold laugh that seemed to chill her even with the heat and the words I said froze her until I had left the meeting room. "Why don't you call Patric and ask if his wife will take my job?"

Yes, I can see your judgement. I was sleeping with the boss' boss. Did that get me the job? No - neither of us had realized that we were working for the same company until 2 months ago. We had agreed to keep our private life separate from work when we met... I had no idea that that was to protect his double life...

Part of me wanted to stick around to watch in a dark humor sort of way the way the heat would amplify my complete removal of myself from his life, but... I had better things to do then laugh when hell came to collect the escaped prisoner that Patric had to be...

The final choice I made was to make an Insta account and comment on Patric's picture: a photo of me and him on a trip of our own. Him in only his underwear... and me in lingerie... with his hands hiding the most intimate areas of my body.

The day that hell froze over was the hottest day of my life... and hopefully, Patric's life only started to heat up ... "the day that hell froze over."

My life had fallen apart, but I was still cool - despite the heat.