Divorce

Calgary, December 2025

Martin was a young man with ambition. He wanted to improve the life of his fellow citizens and to be recognised for that. He wanted his name to be known and respected. But for that, he needed power, and that power comes from politics. Therefore, Martin wanted to be a politician. He joined a political party, volunteered for canvassing, helped with elections, and registered at the university to study political science.

But Martin was also a man. He needed a woman to love, to hold in his arms, and Anita was such a woman. They met at the university where she studied economics and accounting, had some courses together, and that’s how their love affair began. Anita was the exact opposite of Martin, but, as we know, opposite attracts. She had no ambition other than to finish her degree, get a job, find a husband, raise a family, and be happy. Her favorite pastime was reading novels with happy endings, hoping that her life would follow a similar pattern. She admired Martin for his drive to achieve recognition, and he appreciated her calm ability to accept life the way it was. After graduation, Anita got a job in a large accounting firm, and Martin started working for the municipal government. His job didn’t pay much, Anita earned more, but it didn’t matter. They were in love, got married, and Martin’s work was a stepping stone for his career in politics.

But life is never straightforward. Only in fairy tales do they live happily ever after. The problems started with Anita’s complaints: “Why are you never home? Why are you always helping others, volunteering for something, and leaving me alone? Am I the least important person for you?”
“But Anita, that is how to make it in politics. I must cooperate with people,” was his standard answer. But Martin also had his demands: “Anita, this weekend I would like to invite a few of my friends for lunch. Can you prepare something? I will help you.”
When Martin said it for the first time, she reluctantly agreed. But when he was repeating it with a depressing regularity, one day she said, “no.” This time, Martin got angry. “Anita, those are important people. I need them to help me in my career. You have to cooperate.”
“I don’t have to do anything. It is your obsession with politics, not mine, and this obsession doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere. If you got a normal job with decent wages, it wouldn’t be my salary that pays for most of the bills.”
This was something Anita shouldn’t have said. It hurt Martin deeply. They say that love is like a vase for flowers. It can last for a lifetime, but if it breaks, it cannot be repaired. For Martin, that vase broke right then. He didn’t know it yet; he only knew that he could not count on Anita to help him with his political ambitions.

Life continued, but it wasn’t the same anymore, at least not for Martin. Anita, with her easygoing nature, soon forgot about the outburst, but Martin didn’t. Her comment about his inability to earn money was a direct attack on his ego. But maybe she was right. Maybe his political ambitions indeed didn’t go anywhere, and he should get a normal job with decent wages, have a family, and a normal, quiet, and boring life. Anita would be happy, but would he be happy? He didn’t think so. It was the classical problem which men, and nowadays also women, are facing: What is more important: Career or family? There is no correct answer; every person must find their own response for that dilemma. For Martin, the answer was becoming increasingly clear. He couldn’t imagine himself in some 9-to-5 job where the only distraction would be an occasional office party. Martin wanted people around him, he wanted to be the centre of attention. He wanted a social engagement and knew that with Anita, such a lifestyle would be impossible. Martin needed a different woman, a woman who would share his passion for politics. But he couldn’t simply leave Anita. She was a good woman, and if he walked out on her, everybody would hate him. That would be the end of his political ambitions. He needed Anita to leave him, and for that he needed to find her a lover.

Finding a lover for Anita wasn’t easy. She still loved him and had no interest in extra-marital affairs. Also, there was nobody from her work who could serve for that purpose. The only candidate with some chance of success would be a man Anita could admire for achieving something. Not just for his ambitions, but for an actual achievement. And that’s when Martin remembered Anita’s liking of reading. Perhaps a writer would do. Not a famous writer, but a young, starting, moderately successful, and preferably single author with one or two books to his credit. There was no real shortage of men like that. With the ease of self-publishing, a lot of people are dreaming about becoming famous. Martin did a Google search, talked to the people in libraries, visited various bookstores, and that’s how he found Dave, a man he was looking for. Dave has already published three books, and one of them has sold more than 1000 copies. That book was available in the local bookstore and Martin bough it.
“Look what I bought for you. You like books, don’t you?” he said when he came home. Anita indeed liked books, and she was impressed with Martin’s kindness. Perhaps he was trying to soothe the somewhat tense feelings which developed between them lately.
“Thanks, it is very nice of you.” Anita really meant it.
“Do you know the author?” he asked.
“No, I don’t.”
“He seems to be an upcoming writer. This is his third book.”
Anita was surprised that Martin was showing so much interest in literature, but she thought he is trying to improve things between them, and she was grateful for that. She didn’t know how wrong she was.

The next step was to get Anita and Dave together. He bought several more of Dave’s books and wrote him a letter praising his writing. He indicated that if there would be a book-signing event in the local bookstore, a lot of people would come. For Dave, this letter was like a gift from Heaven. All starting authors dream about something like this. He wrote an enthusiastic letter to the bookstore, included a copy of Martin’s letter, and promised to come if invited to their next book-signing event. The bookstore agreed, they sent an announcement to their customers, and that’s how Anita and Dave met.

When Anita entered the bookstore for the book signing, there wasn’t a big lineup at Dave’s desk. More accurately, there was nobody, and that gave Anita all the time to talk to him. She introduced herself, told him how much she liked his book, and he thanks her for a nice letter he got.
“It must have been my husband who wrote it,” she said.
“It was nice of him. Will he also come for the signing?”
“I don’t think so. He is not such an avid reader as I am.”
To Dave, it didn’t make much sense, but he didn’t want to point out the contradiction. After some small talk, Anita wanted to know about the life of a writer, and Dave told her part of his biography. He always wanted to be a writer, but he was realistic enough to know that he couldn’t make a living just by writing novels. He studied journalism and, after graduation, got a job in an advertising company, writing commercials for products he would never buy. Writing novels was left for his spare time, but it wasn’t forgotten.
Anita was impressed and couldn’t avoid comparing him to her husband. Dave, like Martin, had a dream, but unlike Martin, Dave’s dream produced something: books. Anita also couldn’t avoid imagining life with somebody like him. With such a man, she could share his dream. She didn’t share Martin’s dream of politics, but would enjoy the world of literature, books, and writers. Dave interrupted her daydreaming by asking something, they continued talking, and before Anita left, he gave her his business card. “Let’s keep in touch,” he said.

“How was the book signing?” asked Martin when Anta came home.
“It was very good. Dave is an interesting person,” she said, and Martin was happy that his plan was progressing. The next step was to arrange another meeting for them. Martin knew that Dave vas working in advertising, therefore he could write some promotion for Martin’s political party. He talked about it with the party bosses, they agreed, assigned a budget, and decided to invite Dave for a meeting. Martin wrote the invitation letter and mentioned that the party would cover his expenses, and his fees could be paid in cash if he wanted. Dave, like anybody in this world, was keen to make some tax-free money and readily agreed.

“Your friend David will be coming to town. Would you like to see him again?” asked Martin when all was arranged.
“Yes, I would. But why is he coming?”
“He will be writing a promotion for our party. A bit of additional income for him.”
“Did you arrange it?”
“Yes, I did. I thought you liked him.”
“Yes, I like him, and it was nice of you to do that. Thanks.” Anita still didn’t suspect anything.

The second meeting between Anita and Dave was even friendlier than the first one. There was no distraction from the book signing. They met in a cafeteria and exchanged their life stories. There was no woman in Dave’s life, he said. With his hectic schedule of working and writing, there was no time for that. But it was obvious Dave did want a woman in his life. When they were parting after their prolonged coffee session, Dave suggested he could stay one more day. Anita agreed, took a day off from work, and they had the whole day for themselves. There was no sex; Anita respected her status as a married woman, but there was a lot of attraction between them. Then Dave left, and Anita went home, pretending to be coming from work.

What followed was an exchange of increasingly passionate e-mails, and then Dave suggested having a week together. Anita took a week off from work, told Martin that she had an accounting course out of town, and went to see Dave. It was marvelous, and this time there was some sex, but then Anita was faced with the problem of returning home and dealing with Martin.
“How was the course?” he asked when she came back.
“Good,” she said, but Anita wasn’t a good liar. She just stared at Martin, ready to cry.
“What’s wrong?” Martin knew very well what was wrong but pretended to be surprised.
“I wasn’t at a course. I was with him.”
“With whom?”
“With David. The writer I met at the book signing in the bookstore.”
“You mean, you were with a lover?”
“Yes.”
“Do you love him?”
“Yes.”
Now Martin had two options: He could pretend to be an offended husband and say something like, “Then go with him, I don’t want to see you ever again,” or he could play the role of a sophisticated, understanding man. He decided on the latter, and he said:
“I am very sorry to hear that. I thought I was a good husband for you, but obviously, I wasn’t. If you decide to go with him, I will not try to stop you.”

Later, when Anita was already living with Dave and her guilt about leaving Martin subsided, she started to think calmly about the whole situation. It was Martin who wrote the initial letter to Dave. It was also Martin who organised the writing assignment for him. Then there was his surprisingly calm reaction to her leaving him. Was he trying to get rid of her? Anita didn’t know and had no intention to find out.

After Anita left Martin, the next stage of his plan was to find himself a woman who would share his passion for politics. A woman who would invite friends for dinner, enjoy festivities, and would know all the gossips about people in politics. After all, they say that behind every great man there is a woman, and Martin wanted to be such a great man. Now, when Anita left him, women felt sorry for him, and Martin established certain criteria for the one he was searching for. Besides the already mentioned requirement, she had to be roughly the same age as he, and to avoid any scandal, must be single or divorced. There was such a woman, her name was Jane. She was a secretary of one of the party bosses, was divorced, and knew a lot about politics. They had several coffee breaks together, and when Martin thought the time was right, he invited her for dinner. But before he could make any proposals, she shattered all Martin’s dreams:
“Martin,” she said. “You are wasting time with me. I am not the woman you are looking for. The problem is, you are passionate about politics, but you have no talent for it. You don’t know how things are done, and that is why you have never progressed. Maybe that is also why Anita left you. Perhaps you would be better off to find yourself a normal job, have a family, and a normal life. I am sorry to be so honest with you.”

Those were almost the same words Anita was saying to him a long time ago. Perhaps politics indeed wasn’t for him. He couldn’t show anything for his efforts, and he lost the woman who loved him. But it is difficult to give up a dream, even a failed dream. For Martin, it was hard to accept that Anita and Jane might be right. They suggested he should look for a normal job, but could he be happy sitting in the office from 9 to 5? Or should he ignore their advice and continue in his political activities, even though so far, he didn’t achieve anything? Marin didn’t know.