Chapter 1: Refocus
"You want a divorce!?" Annalise yells as she looks at her husband in disbelief. Her hands shake as she holds a manilla folder with divorce papers inside.
"Ann, I can't keep living my life like this," Lyle says while taking a sip from his glass of whiskey.
She doesn't understand, everything has been fine, they may have been married for a year. They are a young couple who fell in love and rushed to the alter. Annalise was confused and lost and her heart is pounding so hard, it feels like it'll jump out of her chest.
"I.. don't…" Annalise trails off as the tears she was holding back slip out. Damn him! She stands up and walks over to him.
Minutes ago she was sitting in her workshop, she was working on a painting for a client. Lyle walked in, he threw the folder at her, he held an air of arrogance, there wasn't even regret in his eyes as she looked at him dumbfounded.
Annalise stood toe to toe with him, she lifts her head to make sure he is looking at her. His eyes lacked emotion and the man she fell in love with was nowhere to be found. The eyes looking down at her were dark and blank.
Sure she spent a good portion of her day in her workshop painting and they don't spend much time together, but he works all day and sometimes won't be home till after 10 pm. Annalise figured the best way to keep herself busy was doing what she loved, which was painting.
"Lyle, I want to ask you a question. Please be honest with me. Are you seeing someone else?" Annalise ask, she was nervous but something in the pit of her stomach is saying that the distance between them was from someone else in his life.
Bang!
The door behind them flew open, and in stepped a petite woman, she had long blond hair that had small curls that flowed around her like a waterfall. She wore a red dress and black heels and she looked irritated.
"Babe! What is taking so long? We have a plan to catch" She crosses her arms and gives him a pout. She glances toward Annalise and she frowns.
"So this is the woman you married? She looks like an art teacher, does she spend all her day painting? No wonder you wanted to find someone else, who'd want to be around someone that smells like paint all the time?" She scrunches her nose in disgust and walks over to Lyle. She loops her small arms around his, and she guides him away from Annalise.
"Ann, I mean it. I'm done with you. Please see the divorce papers." Lyle turns around and walks to the door, he glances behind him one last time.
"To answer your question Ann, yes I am seeing someone else. When we first started to date, you were a goddess, and now well, look at you. You are covered in paint and there is nothing sexy about you anymore." Lyle scuffs and heads towards the door with the small woman attached to him. She glances over her shoulders and winks at Annalise.
They walk out the door and Lyle slams the door behind them, Annalise collapses to the floor, unable to control the emotions floating through her. He cheated, he wants a divorce and he finds her unattractive? Annalise looks down at her hands, they are covered with different colors of paint and the jeans that she is wearing have different hues of paint splatter across them. Her hands are trembling, she isn't sure if she is actually breathing.
Annalise glances at the mirror across from her, her eyes are red, tears are dripping down her face and there are smudges of color on her cheek. The curls of red that she thought Lyle loved are tied into a bun.
When they first met, Annalise thought about giving up on painting, she wasn't making much money and she knew she couldn't live on ramen every day. She set out on finding a real job and while at an interview she ran into Lyle, he was walking into the building as she was leaving, and she dropped her wallet on the ground. He ran up to her and brought it to her, this is how they met.
After a few months of dating and falling in love, Annalise was reached out to by an art collector who wanted to purchase a few of her paintings. To her surprise, that unknown man sent her over $100k to her bank account.
Because of that man, she didn't give up painting, she purchases a small warehouse that she turned into a workshop and it had a living area for nights when Lyle wasn't home, she would spend the night here.
He proposed to her after 6 months of dating, and of course, she said yes! She was madly in love with him, he was handsome, and had an amazing job as a Director at a financial firm. He was everything that Annalise looked for in a man, but now that she is sitting on the ground. She wonders if that love she felt was just a high of wanting to be in love that trapped her mind in a blind fog.
Annalise glances over toward the manilla folder that is sitting on the ground a few inches away from her. She gets on her knees and starts to crawl over to the folder, her legs are too weak to stand right now.
Opening up the folder she looks at the header, stating this was a divorce decree, tears well into her eyes once again as she skims through the pages.
Through the pain that is causing havoc on her body, heart, and mind. The one thing she is thankful for is that they signed a prenup. It was his idea, at first it hurt her that he wanted to sign one, but after her best friend nagged her to death about agreeing. Annalise agreed to it without much fight, it would have backfired on her now if she didn't sign it.
Her assets aren't limited to her small warehouse, even her clothes aren't fancy, or designer, her car is a beat-up used one that her dad gave to her. Annalise was 24 but was far more wealthy than Lyle believed she is.
The man who bought her first paintings continued to buy from her throughout the year, even now she has more clients, and has art shows and galleries now.
The way she dresses, what she drives and now will live in, Isn't what her worth is showing rather, her bank account has endless zeros.
She is a multimillionaire.