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“We just finished our Pilates class.” She’s wearing leggings with a long sweatshirt. The material dwarfs her thin body. Her hair is pulled into a loose bun.
Alice walks to the front and orders two specialty coffees to go while Benji and my mom catch up with each other.
“Are you still down at the rafting place?” Mom asks my friend.
Benji nods. “Just a couple of days a week now that winter is approaching.” He glances over at me. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to hit the powder again.”
I nod. “I’m always ready. Even with my bum knee.”
Alice returns with two Styrofoam cups. She hands one over to my mom. “Hazelnut latte.”
Mom takes a generous drink and then glances over her shoulder. “It’s perfect, Nadia. Thanks!”
Nadia smiles back at her.
Alice looks down at her cell phone when it chimes. “It’s Beth.” She walks a few steps away to answer the call.
Beth, the one who knew Dr. Cooper’s wife and details about the affair.
My eyes drift to my mom. “What ended up happening with that situation?” I ask, waving toward her friend.
“What situation?”
“Ron Cooper,” I answer. I can’t completely hide the desperation in my voice. I need to know the answer. “Did you ever find out who he was having an affair with?”
Her brow furrows. “I think Alice said it was an X-ray tech or something like that. Why?”
A burst of air leaves my lungs and it’s like I can breathe for the first time in days.An X-ray tech, not Willow.
I’ve never been one to gossip. I’ve never bought into the chatter, and I normally couldn’t care less about the rumors that swirl around town. So, it’s out of the ordinary for me to ask—or care—about something I heard in passing at my mom’s house.
I can feel Benji watching me with interest. “When Alice said Ron Cooper was having an affair, I assumed it was with his physician assistant.”
“I think that’s initially what his wife thought,” my mom answers. “But she found out it was a different woman.”
I want that to be true. So badly.
Alice disconnects her phone call, and we visit for a few more minutes before the two of them leave. Benji just stares, waiting for me to fill in the blanks.
“I was at my mom’s house the other day …” I look over at him, and he nods for me to continue. “And Alice was there. She was talking about a friend of hers from college who called, looking for divorce attorney recommendations from her husband.”
Benji waits patiently for me to get to the point.
“It came out that Ron Cooper, the surgeon that Willow was working for, has been having an affair with a coworker.”
Benji ruminates on that statement.
After a few moments, he narrows his eyes. “You thought it was Willow?”
I look away and then back again. “There was talk about a ‘cute little assistant’ he spends all his time with. Who else would it be?”
“About a million other people,” he scoffs. “Have you met Willow? Does she seem like the type to have an affair with a married man?”
“I don’t know. What type of person has an affair?”
He scoffs again, shaking his head. “Did you ask her about it? Or did you just assume that it was true?”
“I asked.” I basically accused her of it.Afterassuming.
