Free Until I Die Again [On The Way To Heaven] (Soul Change Novel) by Tina Wainscott

she answered, and he could almost believe she didn’t.
    “Hallie, your mother and I have a patent disregard for each other. In any case, there’s no need for me to accompany you. Maybe you should invite Mick.”
    He had succeeded in keeping his tone light, but she still shot him an angry look.
    He held out a hand in defense. “Listen, you’re the one who spent two weeks out of every two months visiting Joya in L.A. and playing single. You’re the one who planned to fly away to France with Mick, and you’re the one who instigated our divorce, which was the smartest thing you ever did. All I’m suggesting is that since he is the one you chose to spend your life with, or at least ‘til boredom do you part, he should be the one to accompany you to your mother’s for dinner.”
    She looked pitiful, staring up at him with a parade of feelings crossing her features. Anger, frustration, and something else he couldn’t pinpoint. He moved toward the door.
    “Hallie, I know you feel in limbo now. Soon you’re going to remember how your life was, and why you did the things you did. I can’t help you with that because I didn’t know you the last year we were married. I don’t know why you did what you did.” He couldn’t keep the sigh from his voice. “All I know is that it’s been a long year, and I want it over.” Then he turned and closed the door behind him.
     
    Chris sat there long after Jamie left, remembering the look on his face. Hallie had hurt her husband deeply. It sounded as if her affair with Mick had been the final straw. Yet, though he said he wanted it to be over, there lingered a trace of pain and regret in those frosty blue eyes. He had loved Hallie, and she had loved him too, if Chris had read their expressions right on the wedding video. What had torn them apart?
    How embarrassing, Jamie hearing her sobbing. Then he had the nerve to come in to assure himself that something he said hadn’t upset her.   She smiled, but it vanished as quickly as it had come. He hadn’t cared what she was crying about, just wanted to tell her the terrible news about her mother coming. Not that she would have confided in him anyway, with the Sharp Rehabilitation Center lurking in the corner of her mind. Still, it would have been nice if he had tried to console her, even just a little.
    Pulling herself up, she lumbered to the bathroom and leaned on the long marble vanity. It was strange to see that beautiful face marred with red tear tracks and puffy eyes. When she didn’t have physical proof in front of her, she imagined looking like her old self.
    After splashing cold water on her face, she looked up and put on a resolve that didn’t feel as solid as it appeared. “I am Hallie now,” she whispered to the mirror. “Hi, I’m Hallie DiBarto. This is who I am now, not Chris Copestakes. This is my life.”
    She envisioned herself like a butterfly emerging from the cocoon, previously a fuzzy brown worm. Hallie walked away from the mirror, feeling the tiniest bit more in control of her life.
    That feeling of control slipped through her fingers as Jamie rapped on the bedroom door. A tightening sensation clutched her insides when he opened the door partway and peered inside.
    “Your mother’s here. She’s waiting for you in the living room.”
    Hallie tried to quell the urge to beg him to accompany her. Jamie in and of himself wasn’t particularly comforting. Still, the thought of having him with her somehow made her feel better, and the knowledge that it wasn’t going to happen left her spirit overcast.
    She slowly rose from the bed and moved toward the door, finding it difficult to maneuver in the suffocating blue jeans she’d found. His eyes glanced downward before looking at her face.
    “It’s strange to see you without all your makeup on,” he said, though she couldn’t tell how he meant it.
    “Oh. I just didn’t feel like going through the routine. Actually, she hadn’t yet done the routine, and