making it official

My BFF is finally getting divorced.
It's been a long time coming.

Yesterday evening, she began the conversation by text.

her: Just said goodbye to Ernie for the last time. Divorce should be final on the 16th.
me: Was he in town?
her: Yup, flying out of Atlanta to Dubai. He wanted to have dinner with me and the kids.
me: Wow. I had thought he was here last month to sign the papers. Right?
her: He had been in Hinesville since New Years.
me: Ok. I see.
her: Yup. Now he's going back there to work (he better) and be with Elise.
me: How are you doing? Want to talk?
her: He did go out to Texas to see if that would work out (it didn't).
me: That is funny.
her: Are you busy?
me: Nope. Hard as that may be to believe.

And we talked, voice to voice, for almost an hour.
Ernie had resisted signing the papers this past summer, when he was stateside. He was so sure she would remain part of his harem that he was going to wait her out.
Now, his harem has dwindled from a wife and two mistresses to only one woman: his South African mistress with whom he is living in the UAR.
The folks over there think he and Elise are already married, because that is the lie he has perpetrated to them.
Over there, they have strict rules about married men having affairs and living with mistresses. He would lose his job, at best, and she would have been deported on the spot.
As it turns out, he's already lost his job.
He smart-mouthed to a general, about who knows what.
Craziness.

Why did he sign the divorce papers?
My BFF told him she had found someone new.
His grown son told his dad that he needed to let Sam go.
His nearly grown daughter told her dad the same thing.

Then he went out to Texas to visit his longtime mistress, Jill, the one he's had since 2009... and closed that chapter in his life.
She had gained seventy-five pounds in the past three years.
That's her assessment, not his.
Once he saw her there in the doorway, he was done.
Pretty shallow fellow.

So, sign the divorce papers he did.
Then to visit his aging dad for a couple of weeks.
He's told my BFF that he wants to come back to the States, live in the house in Hiram with his mistress and his dad.
Well, that will depend on whether her Apartheid-supporting self can gain admittance into the USA.
And whether she even wants to move here and share space with his dad.

Meanwhile, I'll be sending love and support to my BFF.
Please hurry, February 16th.
Her peace of mind is overdue.