THE RIDDING OF "JILL"

The last four years we were together were filled with loss on both sides.Her dad died,my mom died,my dad stroked out,the treatment center where she worked closed and she lost her job.
Things were going downhill fast, when we interacted with each other it was critical, blaming and hateful.She spent a lot of time going to Ohio.I spent a lot of time trying to break up with her...she wouldn't do it for some crazy reason that I have never understood.
On one of her trips, I seduced a woman I was working with at CLCW. To be blunt about it, we used each other. She was unhappy,I was unhappy,there was a mutual attraction, an invitation to her house, wine, food and well, there you have it.
And after our little fling I remember "Jill" saying the one thing that would cause her to leave me was if I cheated on her.
So, on the day she flew back in to Austin, I pounded down 4 beers,picked her up at the airport, brought her home, set down her bags and said "Jill, I have something to tell you".
21 hellish days later, she was gone. During that 21 days I had to have my constant companion of almost 14 years, Buddy, put to sleep.
I remember driving home with his body across the seat of my nissan truck, his head in my lap, crying uncontrollably.
I buried him and his things in the back yard and came into the house. "Jill" and I sat across from one another and she said "maybe I should stay"...I was horrified. She was leaving in two days time. I had to say something to squash this crazy thought. I told her the truth.We were great when it came to tragic events, it was the day to day stuff we sucked at and she needed to go on home, where she belonged.
She did.
I was free.