“For Mina and Josh’s bachelor-bachelorette weekend, yeah.”
“And he, um…he mentioned that your old boyfriend was there.”
My body stiffens. “Yeah, he was.”
There’s a long pause of silence. I can tell he wants to know more. Not the details he already knows. Like that Everett was the one who got away. That he was the one who had my heart in shambles when Leo and I met one weekend during the summer after junior year when James brought him over to the house. That when he saw me moseying around the house in a state of grief and misery, we bonded over my heartbreak and his incredibly welcoming shoulder to cry on.
“Is that all? You came here to tell me what James passed along to you?”
“Is there something going on? With you and him?”
I scoff. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
“You’re my wife?—”
“Your soon-to-beex-wife,” I spit back. “Your soon-to-be ex-wife who youcheatedon. Or did you forget that little detail?”
His hands fist at his side, and I can see his face flush red with anger and frustration. “I don’t care what I did. You’re still my wife, and if you’re cheating on me to get back at me?—”
“I am notcheatingon you!” My voice raises, and I see him taken aback by the brazenness of my words. “I’m not cheating on you, because we aren’t together anymore. We are done. I don’t know how else to make things clearer, but this—” I point a finger back and forth between us. “It’s over.”
“Teeny, don’t say that.”
“Why?” I throw my hands in the air, looking for the last bits of my will as I search for the words that’ll finally make him understand how far we are from reparable. “You’re going to honestly say that this is worth salvaging? That there’s something there worth fighting for between us?”
He responds with silence, and it’s the answer I need. “But you’re…we’re married. You’re the mother of my child. What…what am I going to do without you?”
“Maybe you should’ve thought of that before you cheated on me, Leo.” I start to feel tears prick at my eyes, and my throat tightens, making me near speechless. I didn’t want him to see me like this. Hurt and suffering from his betrayal, but I don’t know how to hold it back any longer. I wipe at my cheeks, trying to hide the evidence of my tears before Sadie comes back outside, and Leo takes a step closer to me.
“Teeny, please.” I feel the emotions swell in his voice, his eyes on the brink of his own tears. All I can do is shake my head, too tired and weary to fight anymore.
The door from inside the garage opens, signaling Sadie’s exit from the house. I quickly wipe at the last bit of my tears, smoothing it over with a forced smile in Sadie’s direction. “Don’t have too much ice cream. You know all that dairy makes your tummy ache.”
“You’re not going?” Sadie asks, a hopeful look on her face. And under different circumstances, I might have changed my mind. I might have pushed aside my hurt and resentment from Leo’s betrayal for the sake of our daughter. But I couldn’t. Not after everything we’d just said to each other.
“No, baby,” I tell her apologetically. “I have to make some calls for a client, but you enjoy your time with Daddy.”
I can feel Leo watching us, his presence suddenly unwanted in a way that feels unsettling, but I ignore it. I said what needed to be said, and as much as it disturbed what little truce we silently settled on, I meant it. I should at least look him in the eye and bid him farewell before he leaves, if not out of politeness, then at the very least for Sadie, but I don’t. Instead, I embrace Sadie in a tight hug before she scampers off into Leo’s car. And I walk right into my house without a second glance.
I start picking up the mess in my house. Loose shoes strewn in the entryway, empty coffee mugs in random parts of the house, small bits of littered trash on the floor. I do that while I try to process the reason for the aching twinge in my heart. Wondering if it’s a spasm of guilt or if it’s a cluster of anger building and growing into something hard to ignore. I start to become exasperated and irate toward Leo. At his assumptions, his hypocritical accusations. And then that pain shifts completely into anger. I start stomping around the house, muttering under my breath all the things I wish I could say to Leo’s face. That he has no right to go around still calling me his wife. That he should start getting more familiar with the termex-wifeor mother of his child instead. And how dare he accuse me of cheating on him! As if he has the right to even question something like that. And yet, there’s a lingering guilt brewing in my gut. Because I couldn’t deny his question, asking if there was something going on with me and Everett. Not after that kiss. And maybe the fact that the guilt that should’ve been pointed in Leo’s direction is now teetering a little toward me has me more hot and bothered than I should be.
I try to stay busy, washing Sadie’s clothes, tidying around the house, putting away all the little toiletries I still had stashed away in my makeup bag from the Vegas trip. Before I know it, Sadie’s home. Leo doesn’t walk her in, and I take it as a sign. Maybe he finally got the hint that his actions caused all of this. This rift, this tension.
As I’m folding Sadie’s laundry while she’s fast asleep in her room, that guilt starts to claw at my chest. Leo’s right. Iama married woman. And Everett should’ve respected that. My mind starts to play this violent tug of war, unsure of what I should be feeling. And by the time it hits one a.m., I’m still stewing. I’ve moved on to sorting through the clothes in my closet, filling a garbage bag of items to donate to Goodwill, when this nagging voice tells me I need to talk to Everett. I need to clear this up. Because if that kiss meant more than just a kiss, more than some form of closure I’ve been convincing myself that it was, then it makes me no better than Leo.
“Teeny?” Everett answers on the second ring.
“Were you sleeping?” I ask, suddenly realizing the time.
“No.”
“Okay.”
There’s a pause, and I hear the rustle of bed sheets. “Is everything okay?”
“Mh-hmm,” I answer, giving nothing away.
“Are you sure?”
