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“I got a job up here, but he went back to school——Duke, actually.” I sipped my wine for a break. “The distance became a problem. It just didn’t work for us.”
I shuddered thinking about Matt’s cheating.
“I’m sorry,” she repeated.
“I’m not,” I told her, deciding to let it all hang out. “I found out he was cheating on me, and so it was never going to work long term, you know?”
“Yeah, that can be hard,” she lamented.
Her wording made it seem like my story hit closer to home for her than I’d realized. Her glass was empty, and she waved our waitress over for another.
I shook my head when the waitress asked if I wanted another as well. “I suppose maybe I didn’t try hard enough early on,” I told Natalie. “I took him too much for granted.”
“Oh no,” she said, flicking her hand. “Don’t put it on you. It’s his fault. Sometimes I wonder if they’re not all like that——you know, horndogs just waiting for the opportunity.”
Clearly she had been hurt by a cheater. I wasn’t the only one. But I didn’t want to buy into her all-men-are-jerks narrative. I never had.
“No, it was the distance that broke us up. I wasn’t there when I should have been.” But I didn’t completely buy my own line of bullshit; it wasn’tonlymy fault.
Natalie forked a piece of calamari. “You’re still putting it on you. Look, he could have stayed in town. There are plenty of schools here. Who says the woman has to follow the man, anyway?”
She had that point right. I’d tried to talk Matt into applying to a local school, but he’d said it would delay him a year to do it.
She gulped down more of her Chablis. At this rate she’d needanothersoon. “It’s the one who leaves that’s at fault, not the one who doesn’t follow.”
My phone buzzed in my purse, and Natalie paused while I retrieved it.
LIAM: Finishing up want to walk home with me?
She eyed me curiously.
“My boyfriend wants to walk me home,” I explained.
“That’s so cute. We can get together another time if you have to go.”
Her mention of getting together another time——not to mention her call out of the blue to set up this meeting——indicated we weren’t just catching up. She had something in particular she wanted to discuss, which we hadn’t gotten to yet. I hoped it wasn’t marital advice.
“Or you could have him join us,” she suggested.
“Okay.” I composed my reply to Liam.
ME: at the seafood place on Beacon with a friend want to join?
“I asked him to come here,” I said.
“Great,” she said, leaning forward. “I’ve got a favor to ask.” She wasn’t wasting any more time now that Liam was heading our way.
“Sure.”
As she paused, formulating her words, I worried maybe I should have couched my answer a little more hesitantly.
“I need to find a job,” she blurted.
She seemed to think it was an odd request, but it wasn’t.
“Sure. How can I help? Do you need a reference or something?” This wasn’t a big ask. We had been quite close at Brown, and she was a good girl at heart.
“It’s sort of odd.” She finished her wine and waved our waitress down again. “My husband doesn’t want me to work, but I can’t just stay at home and do nothing. I’m going crazy.”
