After I Stopped Loving Him novel Chapter 35

Isabella held her phone out at arm’s length and waited for Jennifer to finish her rant. Only when the yelling died down did she bring the phone back to her ear.

“Mom, Ethan is a grown man. He’s thirty, not three. He knows how much he can drink. If he still got drunk, it’s because he wanted to. No one can stop him when he sets his mind to something. I definitely can’t.”

“The staff made breakfast for him ages ago. If he doesn’t want to eat, that’s on him. If he’s hungry, he knows where the kitchen is. If he has a headache, he can make himself some honey water. I’m not about to spoon-feed him.”

On the other end, Jennifer went quiet. She even checked her phone to make sure she’d called the right number. Was Isabella really talking to her like this?

Within seconds, Jennifer snapped and unleashed another storm of complaints.

Isabella didn’t bother arguing. She just put the phone down beside her and let Jennifer yell as much as she wanted. So what if Jennifer got angry? It wasn’t going to hurt her. Was Ethan going to divorce her over this? Not anytime soon. In her last life, she was the one who’d asked for a divorce. If she hadn’t, they would have just kept going forever, married in name only.

If getting yelled at didn’t cost her anything, why should she care? Why waste her energy?

Jennifer kept at it for a good fifteen minutes before finally winding down.

Isabella muttered under her breath, “Wow, she’s got stamina. Still not tired?”

“Isabella Lane, are you even listening?” Jennifer barked.

Isabella picked up the phone. Her tone was calm and sweet. “Yes, Mom, I heard everything. I’ll work on it next time. If there’s nothing else, I’m going to hang up now.”

Isabella didn’t care what he thought. She called her friend and waited outside the gate.

A few minutes later, Laura came down to meet her and brought her inside. Once they got to Laura’s apartment, Isabella poured Laura a glass of warm water, washed some fruit, and set it out on the table before finally sitting down on the couch.

Laura wasted no time. “Isabella, we didn’t get a chance to talk yesterday. It’s just us now. What’s going on with you and Ethan? Something feels off. Both of you ended up at that bar last night. You came with us to check out cute guys, but Ethan looked miserable, like he was just there to drown his sorrows. You two just got married. It’s only the fourth day. What happened?”

Isabella grabbed a bunch of grapes, popping one into her mouth as she answered, “I’m fine. If he’s in a bad mood, that’s his problem.”

Laura leaned in. “Isabella, we’ve been friends for years. You can’t fool me. I know something’s up. You can hide it from everyone else, but not from me. What happened?”