Three rings and then a voice: “Hello.”
“Amber, hello. This is Ali Harris. I don’t know if you remember me.”
“Hello. Yes. I remember you. Hard not to remember.”
Ali didn’t really know what she was talking about. This was silly. This girl was unbalanced, and Ali was stirring up old issues on a hunch.
“I’m calling because I need to know something. And it’s okay if you want to hang up, but I’m trying to figure some things out.”
“Okay. Go on.”
“Ted told me you were obsessed with him, stalking him, and that you just sort of had a crush that was one-sided.”
“Interesting story. But yeah, no.”
“You didn’t have a crush on him?”
“Mrs. Harris, Ali. Do you want me to answer with the truth? Because you won’t like it. I’ve moved passed this, and I don’t want to cause pain.”
“I called because I want the truth. You are doing me a favor.”
Amber paused. The tension had Ali feeling like a rubber band stretched to snapping.
And then Amber spoke softly, calmly. As though she was walking on eggshells. “I slept with your husband back then. I was twenty, mind you, so clearly very stupid.”
Ali felt like a deer in the headlights as she listened to Amber. “So, you two had a fling,” Ali said.
“Yes, and then I found out he was also sleeping with his grad assistant. I walked in on them during office hours.”
“Ted was cheating on me with his grad assistant and then cheating on the grad assistant with you?”
“Yeah, real great guy.”
Ali was horrified. This was more than just a midlife crisis. This was a pattern. One she’d ignored or didn’t see or didn’t want to see.
“I just never knew. I never suspected. I’m so sorry.”
“You’ve got nothing to be sorry for. He’s a real jerk. And I’m sorry, I was calling you back then to tell you. To blow up your life or save you. I don’t know. I’m still in therapy on some of this. He wasn’t the first older boyfriend or the last.”
“Ah.” Ali was at a loss for words.What do I say to this? How can I reconcile that this was Ted’s pattern, not a one-off?
“You’re not still with that guy, are you?” Amber asked.
“No, no, I’m not. We’re recently, uh, separated.”
“Good, stay separated. That’s my advice.”
“Yeah, yeah. And I’m sorry to bother you or dredge things up. I just needed some clarity.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Thank you. Take care of yourself.”
“You too, Mrs. Harris, you too.”
The call ended. Ali’s world had shifted again. What had been confused was now clear.
She didn’t need Ted’s career advice. She didn’t need Ted. What she needed was to do what she wanted, what her heart was telling her to do.
