I wrote down the date.
Gavin had known.
PART 4 — THE FLIGHT HE BOOKED AFTERWARD
Diane explained how to obtain the notices and account information available to me.
She also updated my contact information so future communications would come directly to me.
There was no quick fix.
She said I could request a review, but I had to prepare for the possibility that the termination would stand.
I wrote down everything.
For months, Gavin had said he was fighting with the insurer for us.
He would sigh at dinner, mention hold times, and tell me to trust him because he understood the paperwork.
The notes showed something much simpler.
He had asked what he owed.
He had been told.
The payment never arrived.
After the call, I found the flight confirmation Gavin had forwarded so I could put the trip on our calendar.
The booking date was two days after the insurance warning.
He bought airfare after learning exactly what would happen to my coverage.
I remembered him standing in the nursery doorway saying his friends had found a deal he couldn’t pass up.
I had asked whether we could afford it.
“It’s a business expense,” he said. “I’ve earned one weekend.”
He had been going to Nevada more often that year.
Some trips included supplier meetings, and I had seen photos of showroom displays.
That made the other explanations easier to believe.
I placed the flight confirmation beside the insurance notes.
Gavin called just after six.
“I didn’t go,” he said.
I stepped onto Marlene’s back porch.
She stayed in the kitchen, visible through the window, but gave me space.
“Where is the twenty thousand dollars?”
“I told you I can replace it.”
“From where?”
He breathed heavily.
“I made some bad investments.”
“What investments?”
He said my name like I was preventing him from helping me.
I waited.
