The Other Other Woman (13 page)

2:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

2:30 p.m.

Each time my eyes glanced over it I just knew it was going to change. That can’t be. Cold drops of sweat immediately formed on the back of my neck and all I could do was sit there with my mouth gaping open. I didn’t understand. Why did he tell me he had a late flight? That he wouldn’t be in until 10:30? Because he lied.

I really had no idea what to do. I couldn’t ask anyone. I looked at the time and it was just a hair before 2:30. He must have been calling me from the airport. I quickly looked up his flight status using the information in the email to see that it was awaiting departure. Figuring he would have his phone on but be unable to respond, I fired off a quick text. A big FUCK YOU. I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE UP TO, YOU LYING PIECE OF SHIT text… but all it said was simply:
Hope you have a nice flight…

It’s a good thing you can’t read tone.

According to the schedule, the flight would land at 4:25 p.m. I tried to hold myself together and go run some errands with my mom and daughters. I bookmarked the flight information on my phone so I could see exactly when he landed. I was in the middle of ToysRus while my kids were playing in the battery-operated vehicles section when I got his response.

Thanks sweetie! Call you later!

I nearly had a heart attack among the tricycles. Seriously? He was still going to pretend like he had not yet boarded the plane? I was so full of anger my cheeks were hot to the touch, yet I was so completely confused. I had no idea what was going on. Everything had been fine, hadn’t it? He was even planning on coming to see me again in Raleigh the week after he got back. I was completely floored. Thank goodness my mom was planning on having the girls spend the night with her anyway, so we went back to the house so I could pack up their overnight bags and send them on their way.

The minute they were out the door, I fell apart. I panicked. I had to talk to somebody. I couldn’t handle just sitting there wondering what to do. Do I call him on it? Wait until he calls me later and scream like a banshee at him? I don’t think I had ever actually been lied to, not that I could recall.

My first thought was to call my best friend, Jules. We had been friends for over 20 years. I met her when I first started working for a physical rehabilitation company during high school. I started off in the billing office, and she was out in the clinical field. She was a couple of years older than me, but we quickly became friends and were inseparable for years. She and I had both gone down the same education/career path, studying to be a Physical Therapist, only she actually finished hers. Once I got into the clinical portion of the program, I came to the realization that I didn’t actually like touching people. Shocking, I know. So, I ended up changing industries. Still, we had some of the best times together. Jules was my partner in crime. If there was any trouble to be had, she was there to help me find it.

Chapter Five

There was a small stalking incident that still makes us shake with laughter, even 20 years later. I had a major crush on this therapist we worked with named Jonathan. I mean one of those multi-year-long kind of crushes. I had it bad. He was married with a gaggle of kids already, but I adored him. When trying to get into the therapy program, you need to have experience working with the sick. Naturally, I volunteered myself as his “assistant” in the nursing and adult homes that were contracted with our company. For three days a week I would go work with him for several hours a day, helping him get patients walking again, doing wound care, wrapping amputee stumps, etc. Most of that time I spent gazing into his eyes, rather than helping patients, but whatever. He was really religious and very happily married to his wife, who Jules and I lovingly referred to as Snaggles. I think her real name was Carolyn.

Jonathan had moved his family into a neighborhood somewhat nearby, so Jules and I (okay, me) wanted to go check it out, to see what we could see. Unfortunately, it was in a cul-de-sac. It was one of those gorgeous summer nights where we had the windows down, so as I drove carefully past each house, squinting to read the street numbers in the dark, we did not notice Jonathan standing out in his front yard picking up children’s toys with some of his kids. Jules immediately called out, “OH SHIT! HE’S OUTSIDE!!” With my cat-like reflexes, I hit that gas pedal so hard I nearly took out his mailbox and his firstborn but instead went flying like a bat out of hell–my wheels screeching behind us back out onto the main road. I’m sure he barely noticed. He ended up leaving our company shortly thereafter. He started his own church in some small town in New Hampshire and last time I checked, he had SEVEN children. He’s not even cute anymore, but Snaggles actually looks pretty good for popping out seven kids!

Once she graduated from the PT program, Jules needed to find a job. The best offer came from a nursing home in Chapel Hill. I was still living at home and working full-time at the same rehab company so I would drive there just about every weekend to stay with her. That was our entertainment, hanging around the college. I was just starting to date Nate around that time, when she decided she wanted to start traveling for work. As a therapist, you could take temporary traveling assignments and the rehab companies would pay you a decent chunk of money and also take care of your housing expenses for you. It was a sweet deal, no doubt. I couldn’t blame her for going, but I was devastated when she left. We didn’t have smartphones back then, but we managed to stay in contact pretty well for those years through letters, postcards, and faxes. I still have the box of them in the attic.

She eventually married a British boy, whom she had met on one of her traveling assignments and settled down just outside of Jacksonville near her mother. Like any friendship, we had times where we stayed in closer contact than others and times where we were just in very different life stages, but it never seemed to matter. We could pick right back up where we left off. She and her husband came up for my wedding, and we got better about keeping in touch as cellphones got more and more advanced. I was sort of slow to get into the whole texting thing–everyone (except Matt) had an iPhone before I did–and even when I did text her, it was mostly to say,
Hey butthead, call me
.

That Saturday I sat alone on my back porch swing, holding my phone, trying to figure out if I wanted to let anyone in on my dirty little secret. I figured whatever Matt and I had was probably over at this point. It had to be, right? He was a liar. You don’t have a bigger deal breaker than that. So I texted her a very desperate
Are you there? Really need to talk to you
! message. She called me back right away and–first things first, I asked her, “How judgy of a person are you, would you say?” Not that I didn’t already know the answer. Truth be told, we were both a couple of judgmental bitches. It was actually one of our favorite pastimes. But I just wanted her to tell me she wasn’t going to judge
ME
. And she promised she wouldn’t.

I started from the very beginning when I had met Matt at the conference, giving her as many details as possible, because in my own mind, I was also going over everything he had ever said to me thus far. Jules was a tough cookie, but you’d never know it to look at her. She was just a little taller than me, maybe 5’5”, with long golden blonde hair, big blue eyes, and a friendly smile. Add in her pleasant southern belle accent and you’d never know that she didn’t take any shit from anyone. I needed to show her that I wasn’t crazy for falling for Matt. That he seemed like everything I had ever wanted. Yet as I was describing all of this, I couldn’t help but realize how foolish it all sounded. Yeah, a hot old rich dude is going to break up his family and leave his wife of 25 years over some floozy mom of two he just met and slept with at work. Sure he is. Even worse was listening to her “Hmmm…” and “I see…” when I got to the Katya section of the conversation. Hearing the words falling from my own mouth was embarrassing at best, and I knew what she was going to say before she even said it.

“Well, Mallory… I’d say it sounds like you’ve got yourself a player.”

“Nooo! Don’t say that. He can’t be. You know I can spot a douchebag a mile away!”

“Maybe he’s just really good at douchebaggery? I mean, he is old, so he’s had a few years to practice!”

“But I’ve known him for a long time! He’s never given me that impression! He’s not slimy or sleazy or anything like that.”

“Uh huh.”

“He is so down to earth; he has never been anything but genuine and sweet. Everyone loves him!”

“Uh huh.”

“Plus, he’s very ethical from a business standpoint, he’s never shady in that respect, and you know that sort of behavior usually carries over into other aspects of your life! And he gives money back to the orphanages!”

“Uh huh.”

Defend. Defend. Defend. What was I calling her for again? Oh, that’s right, because he was a Liar Liar McPants on Fire.

“Mal, he lied. Look, I’m not saying he doesn’t have some decent qualities, but honesty does not appear to be one of them. He’s lying to his wife, too, remember?”

“I know, but I had to lie to Nate, too. It doesn’t mean I’m not generally an honest person. I would never lie to Matt. I just thought we were in similar circumstances. Ugh. Damn it!”

By this time, the tears started rolling down my face and my voice was obviously shaky. She was just telling me what I already knew. He had to have a reason for lying and it was probably not going to be a good one.

“What the hell… are you CRYING?! JUST WHO IS THIS?!”

“Oh hush. No, I’m fine,” I insisted, wiping my tears. “So what would you do if you were me?” If only I had a nickel for every time I would ask her that question over the next eight months, I’d be richer than him.

“Well, you know I would call him on the carpet.”

“So, should I do that now or wait until tonight?”

“I don’t think that emotionally you can handle waiting until tonight, can you?”

“No, I don’t either.”

I told her to stay close to her phone because I was going to hang up and text him. I simply said:
That’s what you are going to go with, huh?

He immediately sent back:
?????

Really? You’re unbelievable.

He called me within seconds and I almost didn’t answer. I wasn’t ready for a break-up conversation at all. But I also had to know why he felt the need to destroy everything we had.

“Hello?”

“WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?!” he yelled. Wow, I had never heard him so pissed off before, and certainly not at me. What the hell did I do anyway?

“Where are you?” I asked coldly.

“I’m in my CAR!” he answered in that same defensive tone.

“WHAT. STATE. MATT?”

“I’m in Miami, so what?”

“So I thought you had a late flight?”

“I did, but I needed to get down here earlier.”

“So you changed your flight?”

“Yeah, I called this morning and got an earlier flight! What’s wrong with that, Mallory!?”

Oh, so he wanted to break out the full names now, huh? I was shaking with anger, this was it; there was no going back now. He could probably hear the tears streaming down my face when I very quietly answered, “I saw your 2:30 check-in confirmation yesterday, Matthew.”

He gave a heavy sigh and went silent. But I could still hear him breathing.

“Nothing to say now?”

He softened his tone immediately. I could have sworn I heard his voice cracking too this time. “God Mal, I’ve just had one of the worst weeks of my life and I just wanted to come down here and not have to talk to one single person for a while. My wife and I had a huge fight and we’ve been in discussions all week about whether or not I’m going to leave. Ivan is stressing me the hell out and I really don’t know what to do about anything right now. I just wanted to come down here and be alone.”

“So you are just going to lie to me so you can avoid talking to me, then?”

“I’m sorry. It just seemed easier than hurting your feelings because I knew you would expect me to call once I got here.”

“Now you’re just being an asshole. When have I ever
expected
you to call me? I have never required you to do anything. I have always wanted to talk to you and I thought you felt the same way. I have never, ever given you grief for not calling me.”

“I know you haven’t.”

“Then that’s a bullshit excuse and you know it. I’m sorry I was not aware that I was forcing you into some sort of relationship with me that you weren’t interested in.”

“Oh, come on, you know that’s not it. It’s not even that I don’t want to talk to you, Mal. I love talking to you. I just wanted some time alone without having to answer to anyone today.”

“Well, how the fuck was I supposed to know you were having a bad week when you never said a word to me about it? We talked every single day and you acted completely normal. You’ve always talked to me about her before. I have never given you any reason to lie to me.”

“I know you haven’t.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. You act like you’re mad at me and I haven’t done anything other than act like I care about you and am interested in your life.”

“Well, you are being pretty harsh with me, don’t you think?”

“Harsh?” I was quite taken aback. “I’m being harsh with you? No, you haven’t seen harsh, yet.”

“But this isn’t the first time you’ve questioned me like this. Obviously somewhere along the line, you seem to have lost faith in me.”

“Are you kidding me? Yes,
obviously.
It was right around the time that you LIED to me!” I could feel myself fuming again. “You know, if you don’t want to talk to me, fine. Then don’t. But don’t act like I’m the one putting pressure on you because I never asked you for anything. I’m not asking you to leave your wife and I’m not causing Ivan to act up. I’m sorry you are having such a hard time, Matt.”

“I know. I’m sorry. Look, I’m starving and I want to go drink some wine. I’m going to go, and I will call you later tonight, okay? I just can’t handle any more drama right now.”