And now I know why.
"So you were sleeping with my fiancé while we were still together." It's not a question.
Her eyes widen in mock innocence. "I wouldn't put it so crudely. We had a connection that transcended—"
"Just say yes or no."
She sighs dramatically. "Yes, okay? But Charlie, these things happen. He wasn't happy with you. He is with me."
Something shifts inside me. The hurt and rage I expected are there, but alongside them is a strange, almost pitying clarity.
"I'm sorry," I say suddenly.
She blinks, clearly thrown off. "What?"
"I'm sorry for you, Olivia."
"Excuse me?" Her perfectly shaped eyebrows arch high.
"If Ethan was willing to cheat on me with you, what makes you think he won't cheat on you with someone else?"
The color drains from her face, replaced by an angry flush. "That's different. We're engaged. We're getting married and he says he loves me."
I lean forward, dropping my voice. "So were we, almost. He said the same things to me and then suddenly he 'wasn't ready.' And now here you are, with a rock on your finger thinking you're special."
"You don't know what you're talking about," she hisses.
"Don't I? The problem wasn't that Ethan wasn't ready for marriage, Olivia. The problem was that he wasn't ready to marry me. And maybe one day he'll decide he's not ready to be married to you, either."
Her face contorts with fury. "You're just jealous. He chose me. He loves me."
"Maybe he does." I shrug, surprised at how little I care. "But love didn't stop him from cheating on me with you, did it?"
Her eyes fill with tears. "You're a bitch."
"No, I'm honest. And genuinely sorry for what's coming your way." I feel a strange, venomous compassion as I add, "At least I found out before the wedding."
She grabs her mug so hard I'm surprised the liquid doesn't spill out. "You don't know anything about our relationship."
"I know enough, and I grew up with him. I know how fickle he can be, it all makes sense now."
She storms out of the kitchen, and I hear her shrill voice from the deck. "Ethan, it's time to go. Now."
I stand there, hands shaking slightly, as I process what just happened. Confirmation that he did cheat on me. The story I'd constructed, that he'd broken up with me and then met someone new, was a lie. He'd been unfaithful, for months, before he finally worked up the courage to end things.
And strangely... I'm okay with it.
The pain is there—the betrayal still stings—but it's distant, like an old injury that only aches when the weather changes. What I feel most prominently is relief. Relief that I found out, relief that I'm not married to someone capable of such deception, and relief that, for the first time since our breakup, I truly don't want him back.
I take a deep breath, pick up the three mugs, and return to the deck just in time to see Ethan and Olivia hurrying down the deck's stairs towards the Harpers home.
"What happened in there?" Bash asks quietly as I settle back beside him. His eyes are concerned, searching mine.
"A revelation," I murmur, curling into his side. "Apparently Ethan and Olivia were seeing each other before he broke up with me."
Emily gasps. "That rat bastard! I knew it!"
Sarah's expression hardens. "Men can be trash. Present company excluded," she adds with a nod to her brother.
