Page 31 of The Space He Left
I remembered that day. Madison had been upset after her treatment and asked if we could get coffee to talk. She'd seemed so much better by the end of our conversation, so much lighter. I'd been glad to see her spirits lifted.
"She was having a good day. The doctors said—"
"What doctors, Jack? I've been asking around. Nobody knows which hospital she's going to."
"You don't understand. She's scared, she needs support—"
"Either you're lying to me about having an affair, or Madison's lying to you about having cancer. And I can't believe anyone would be sick enough to lie about cancer, so that leaves the affair."
The accusation hit me like a freight train. "Sam, I would never cheat on Harper. You know me better than that."
"I thought I did. But the Jack I know would never abandon his pregnant wife for weeks at a time. The Jack I know would never miss his daughter's birth for another woman."
"Another woman who's dying!"
"IS SHE?" Sam's voice was raw with fury. "Madison looks like she's living her best life while you destroy your marriage for her."
"You're wrong. I've been to her treatments, I've seen—"
"You've seen what she wanted you to see. Jack, she's been posting about you two on Instagram every single day for weeks. She isn't sick."
My mind reeled, trying to process what Sam was saying. "That's impossible. Madison's in surgery right now. I watched her leave for the hospital."
"What hospital, Jack? What doctor?"
I opened my mouth to answer and realized Madison had been vague about her doctor’s details. She'd said she had to leave for surgery, but she'd never actually told me which doctor was performing it, what the specific procedure was. I couldn’t even remember the name of the fancy clinic I’d been to with her once or twice.
"She... she didn't want me to come. Said it would be too stressful."
"Jesus Christ, Jack. Do you hear yourself? When has a cancer patient ever told their support person not to come to major surgery?"
And just like that, the floor fell out from under me. Harper had wanted me at every prenatal appointment, for the important moments. But Madison had consistently pushed me away from the medical details, always with reasonable-sounding explanations.
"I don't understand," I said weakly. I felt the world tilting around me. "Even if what you're saying is true about people's suspicions, you know I'm not having an affair. You know I wouldn't do that."
"Do I? Your behavior sure looks like a man having an affair. Sneaking off to the city, lying about where you are, choosing Madison over Harper at every turn. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..."
"It's not an affair!"
"Then Madison's a liar. She's a manipulative viper who's been playing you for a fool, and you've been too stupid or too guilty about your past with her to see it."
The words hung in the air, and I felt something crack inside my chest. Either I was cheating on my wife, or Madison had been lying to me for months. Either I was a cheater, or I was the biggest fool who'd ever lived.
I wasn't a cheater.
I certainly felt like a fool.
"Sam, I swear to you, I'm not having an affair. I've never—"
"Then she's lying about the cancer, Jack. Because those are the only two explanations for what's been happening."
"Nobody lies about having cancer."
"What better way to get an ex-boyfriend's attention? What better way to make him feel guilty enough to abandon his pregnant wife?"
The accusation stung because it was true. I felt guilty about how things ended with Madison, felt responsible for her pain when she'd left town all those years ago. Maybe that guilt had made me more susceptible to her manipulation.
But could Madison have lied about something so serious? Could she have manipulated my guilt and my history with her to destroy my marriage? "She showed me medical documents," I said weakly.
