Page 36 of My Merry Mistake
Then, she showed me a picture of their children.
They had children.
The crazy thing is she wasn’t mad at me. She felt sorry for me, knowing this man had betrayed us both.
Ugh, the number of times I’ve replayed that moment. The look on her face as her fears were confirmed. I wonder what she saw on my face when I realized the truth.
It was humiliating. And Rich had the nerve to try and talk his way out of it.
How could he do that? How could he turnmeinto a cheater?
Me.
Someone who never even used the answer key for the even-numbered questions in the back of the math book.
I’ve never told anyone about that day. Not even when Eloise fell for her boss, who was dating one of my friends. I should’ve been more understanding, but I couldn’t say any of it out loud. I was too embarrassed.
Or too proud.
I reported him to HR, and as these things sometimes go in male-dominated businesses, all he got was a slap on the wrist and a “write-up” in his file, whatever that meant.
And later, a promotion.
Which is one of the myriad reasons I’m not working there anymore.
Just thinking about it makes me break out in hives, so I force myself to think of something—anything—else.
I glance down at my text messages and see I’ve missed on from Poppy:
Poppy
Hey! Come over! Impromptu game night! I’m making those little meatballs you love so much!
Ray, you coming?
RAYA! PLEASE CONFIRM RECEIPT!
I don’t know why I think all caps would be louder over a text.
I smile. I can see her and Eloise in the kitchen, bantering back and forth.
Raya
So sorry, just seeing this. I won’t be able to make it because I’m on a date.
I quickly turn off my phone and put it in my bag because I know the barrage of incoming texts that are coming my way.
In the past, new relationships have always garnered the same reactions from my sisters. Excitement. Giggling. Then, the questions. Assumptions. Googling. Date ideas.
I have a theory that it’s this exact kind of reaction that contributes to heartache. Because if I buy into it, everything is heightened. The relationship is made into a bigger deal than it actually is. The only approach worth taking is a level-headed one. Clean, clinical, and planned. Unfortunately, it’s going to take some time to convince my sisters of that.
Justin returns to the table and takes his seat. “I’m so sorry—that was work.”
“You have to go?”
He nods. “Unfortunately, yes. It’s not how I wanted our second date?—
I think—meeting?—
