Amnesia Reset Our Marriage to Zero

When Angeline Stone showed up with some guy to take me home from the hospital, I hid the divorce papers. I'd forgotten the last ten years of my life, but I still recognized the handwriting on that agreement. It was mine.The date at the bottom was from just yesterday."Caleb, will you drop dead if you don't act out for even a day? Pull this again one more time, and I'm done with you. I mean it!"Angeline leaned against the car window as she looked at me. Ten years had ultimately left their mark on her face, but one thing hadn't changed—how much she despised me.The guy next to her was pretty handsome, and there was something vaguely familiar about him."Angie, don't be so hard on Mr. Gray," he said. "He just got into a car crash and lost his memory. He needs plenty of rest."Angeline let out a sharp, mocking laugh, disdain flickering in her eyes. "Lost his memory? Please. This is just another one of his games. After all these years, he hasn't grown one bit."She yanked open the

This didn't look like a home for a married couple at all. It looked more like a single guy's bachelor pad.I dug our dust-covered wedding photo out of the basement and hung it back on the wall, then went online and bought a ton of couple-themed decor. I placed them in every corner of the house.I couldn't wait to see the look on Angeline's face when she came home and saw how different everything was.But when she finally did come back, she just stopped dead in the doorway and frowned. She said, "Caleb, I don't care if you're really amnesiac or faking it. You're 30 years old now. Can you stop acting like you're still 20? This is so childish!"She didn't even step inside. She just stormed off, slamming the door shut behind her.On the console by the entryway, the ceramic doll I'd carefully picked out in the style she liked fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.I gathered them all and painstakingly glued them back together. The crisscrossing cracks looked like badly stitched-

I had no idea when Angeline and Shawn left, or how long I'd stood there, frozen in place.I sat down at my desk and, by moonlight, finally opened that Pandora's box of a journal."May 21, 2015. I proposed to Angeline, and she agreed! I married her! I want the whole world to know. From today on, I'm done being a pathetic simp!""March 9, 2017. Two years into our marriage, Angeline finally had her first meal at home. She said my cooking was great! All the time I spent learning to cook finally paid off.""August 31, 2018. While I was making dinner today, Angeline actually asked me to add some chili and cilantro. She said that since we're husband and wife, she can't always make me give in to her. She said she had to change for me, too.""May 21, 2019. It's our fourth wedding anniversary! Angeline asked me out to a movie and even prepared an anniversary gift! After the movie, she kissed me under the streetlight.""May 21, 2020. Angeline's been coming home more and more often lately. I

I would say, "Angeline, you're so pretty."She would turn her back to me and ignore me. When she ignored me, I would just keep going. "Angeline, you're gorgeous."She would press a hand to her forehead and push my face away. "Enough. I get it."Then she would try to hide the tips of her ears, already flushed from embarrassment.Later, in the fourth year of our marriage, I came down with a really serious illness. Angeline, who was pampered and never lifted a finger at home, learned to cook for me.She brought cheesy grits with egg and set it in front of me. I hadn't even tasted it yet when I blurted out, "Anything you make is the best, darling!"She laughed, looking somewhat exasperated. She stuck one hand on her hip and shoveled a big spoonful straight into my mouth. "Not even eating can shut you up."Then I actually tasted the food. The eggs tasted funky, and she'd gone heavy on the salt. It was pretty bad.…Angeline's thoughts snapped back to the present. She lowered her ey

"I actually stopped liking him a long time ago. I've done a lot of thinking this past month. Once I figured things out, I cut off contact with him. I heard his family went ahead and set him up with an arranged marriage… He's gone, and he's never going to show up in front of you again."Angeline watched me as she spoke, her gaze steady and serious.I frowned. "Why are you telling me all this? It has nothing to do with me."A faint light flickered in her eyes, stubborn and clumsy as she pushed on. "Caleb, I know what we had is over, but I was wondering… I was wondering if you could give me another chance. Let me pursue you this time. Please?"I could hear the tremor buried in her hopeful words, but my expression remained unchanged as I stood there in the sunlight. What came out of my mouth was cold and completely devoid of warmth."Don't bother, Angeline. I think I'm doing fine on my own these days. To me, you're just not that important anymore. Let's just go our separate ways."I