PERSONAL ESSAY
He Called Me His Ex’s Name
Not once. Twice.
I debated coming here and telling this embarrassing story for a couple of weeks, knowing how disgusting it felt when it happened and how I tried to pretend it didn’t hurt as badly as it did.
Ultimately, I gave in to my feelings and here we are. A little background, if I may.
I have been dating a man I’ve known since I was 19. A friend of my first husband, I adore the guy, always have. He was in a pretty emotionally abusive marriage, and he’s wounded from it. I have been as understanding as a woman with my issues can be, I believe. Until this incident of late took place.
It would be a lot easier to gloss over if it happened in an argument. Or if we had been drinking. No, we were not just sober and, I thought, happy with one another, we were in bed.
And he called me his ex’s name. Twice.
In his defense, he apologized like a million times, and immediately, but he was looking me directly in my face when he called me her name. And then repeated it after I said, “what did you say?”
I didn’t want to cry in front of him, so I got up and left the room. He came to talk to me, but I told him I couldn’t understand anything he was saying right now. My ears were ringing, and I could…
