My Water Heater Exploded,Because My Wife Sent the Repairman to Her Ex

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That night, while I was in the shower, the water heater exploded.

I went down on the bathroom floor, my whole arm shredded and bleeding where the shattered glass door had cut into it.

I called my wife twelve times. She never picked up.

She didn't show up at the hospital until dawn.

Joanna Gilbert took one look at my bandaged arm and frowned.

"It's over between us, so what did you drag me here for? You're a grown man. Can't even take a shower without hurting yourself?"

"Reg's nerves are shot. It took me forever to get him to sleep. If you wake him up, is that on you?"

I was in too much pain to answer.

Kerry Donaldson couldn't stand it. He pointed a finger right in her face.

"Do you even hear yourself? Toby Harding warned you before his business trip that the pressure valve on the water heater was faulty and to get someone to service it."

"Why did you lie to him and say it had already been fixed?"

Impatiently, Joanna tossed her phone down in front of me.

"Don't go making problems where there aren't any. Who lied to you?"

"The service order's right here. See for yourself."

Looking at the order on the screen, I suddenly laughed.

The repair appointment was real. And so was the fact that Joanna would never change the default address.

That address was her ex-boyfriend's home.

...

When I said nothing for a long moment, Joanna looked at the order herself.

A little uncomfortable, she explained.

"I forgot to change the address. Reg's water heater happened to be due for its regular service anyway."

"So the one at home blew up. So what. It's no big deal. I'll just buy you a new one."

Kerry laughed, sharp with contempt.

"You make it sound so easy, Ms. Gilbert. Whose family are you actually part of? You leave your husband to fend for himself and spend all your time waiting on your ex. I honestly don't get it. Is this Reg a beggar, or just starved for affection? How does he sit there so shamelessly and enjoy another man's wife taking care of him? What, tired of being the ex, now he wants to be the mistress?"

At that, Joanna's face went cold.

"Toby, tell your friend to keep his mouth clean. If you've got a problem, take it out on me and me alone. Why drag Reg into it?"

"His ex-wife cheated and divorced him. He has no other family to lean on, and he's got depression on top of it. We've known each other a long time. What's wrong with me looking out for him a little more?"

"Besides, you're not even that badly off. You're both men. Don't be so heartless."

I lowered my eyes to my bandaged right arm. Threads of blood were seeping through.

Even the smallest movement hurt enough to break me out in a cold sweat.

So in Joanna's eyes, this counted as being fine.

Before I could say anything, her phone rang with its special ringtone. Still that same song, "The Special One."

Joanna answered at once, her voice softer than she'd ever used with me.

"You're awake?"

"Don't cry, don't cry, I didn't leave. I just stepped out to grab you some breakfast. I'm coming right back."

She set the phone down and gave me one indifferent glance.

"Reg had another nightmare. I have to get over there."

"You've got your friend here anyway, so there's no point in me staying. Get some rest."

The hospital room fell quiet again.

Kerry poked me lightly on the forehead, exasperated with me.

"You clam. I don't even know what to say to you. Why didn't you tear into her just now?"

"I've genuinely never seen anything like this. She and Reg broke up five, six years ago. She won't change the ringtone, won't change the default address. How many times has this happened now? I can't believe you've put up with it."

I said nothing, but a number surfaced in my mind on its own.

A hundred and twenty times.

The first time, I'd had a sudden stomach attack at the office, and Joanna offered to order me some painkillers.

I waited two hours, only to find out the delivery had gone to Reg's place.

When I confronted her, Joanna was full of impatience.

"Reg happened to be out of painkillers. What if he needs some one day? Consider it stocking him up in advance. Can't you just place another order yourself? Nitpicking over something this small."

The second time, it was Valentine's Day. She was away on a business trip and said she'd ordered me roses.

I waited until the small hours, then found out from Reg's social media that they'd been sent to his place again.

All I did was comment that they'd gone to the wrong address.

Joanna called me up and laid into me.

"It's Valentine's Day. Everyone else has flowers, and Reg is the only one without. What's wrong with letting him have a little joy? Are you deliberately trying to humiliate him?"

In three years of marriage, this happened more times than I can count.

It wasn't that I never fought about it, never screamed at her to change the address.

Every time she said next time. And every next time was exactly the same.

I opened Reg's latest post.

In the picture, a repairman was servicing his water heater.

The caption read:

【Even though the heater was only replaced last week, he still insists on having the technician check it several times before he feels at ease. It really is a wonderful feeling, being looked after like this.】

The mirror on the side wall of the bathroom caught his reflection.

A slender hand was looped through his arm, the face hidden behind a sticker.

But I recognized the bracelet on that wrist.

It was the custom piece I'd had made for Joanna.

So she hadn't forgotten to change the address. She simply didn't want to.

And it wasn't that she didn't know a faulty water heater could be dangerous.

It was just that, next to my safety, keeping Reg safe mattered more.

I smiled at Kerry, still seething beside me.

"You're right. So I don't want to put up with it anymore."

"Once I'm discharged, come with me to a law office. I want to draw up divorce papers."