I Went to Surprise My Husband at Work – But His Colleague Asked Me with Tears in His Eyes, ‘He Hasn’t Told You Anything, Has He?’

“Rough night, Chels. Go back to sleep.”

***

So that Tuesday, after watching him leave with his hospital badge clipped to his pocket, I decided to surprise him.

I packed his favorite lunch, added the apple pie, and tucked in the note.

“Go back to sleep.”

Then I drove to the hospital, imagining how happy he’d be to see me.

Instead, I found Arnold nearly crying.

“Where’s Ben?” I asked.

Arnold hesitated.

“Chelsea, you should talk to him.”

“I plan on doing that. Where is he? Not in surgery?”

“Chelsea, you should talk to him.”

He pointed down the hall.

I walked away before he could say anything else.

***

Ben’s office door was partly open.

I pushed it wider.

A folder lay open on his desk.

One page showed an Oregon address. Another showed a start date six weeks away.

He pointed down the hall.

Ben’s office looked half-erased.