Anonymoususer239135A real man doesn't destroy the person who loved him just to feed his ego.
TaxiGirl1Whoever is still on the other side of that Bridge over the River Betrayal: The first steps over it are the hardest, but we are over here on the other side cheering you on. We've got cookies and hugs. Can't wait for you to join our party.
wendyc890Love it
Anonymoususer4235I know it hurts right now, deeper than words can say. But please remember, you did nothing to deserve this. Their choices are not a reflection of your worth.
AlexaLowell43Betrayal cuts deep, but it never destroys what's real inside you, your kindness, your honesty, your capacity to love again. Those things are still yours.
LouisZMKIF78Only cowards cheat. It's easier to lie than to face your own unhappiness and have an honest conversation.
MarthaJTL098People who cheat have no idea of the damage they cause. It's not just love that dies, it's trust, safety, and the way the other person sees the world.
Chapter 06
real friendship
Cecily
When the page refreshes, my eyes go straight to the picture. The white shirt. The faint trace of my lips on the collar. Looking back, I don’t know what came over me that day, when I chose one of his shirts and, with freshlyapplied lipstick still fresh, pressed a small mark into the fabric. In that moment, it felt like the perfect counterpoint to the photo I’d received the day before.
My gaze shifts to the image, and my chest tightens at the sight of her hand on his chest at the San Jose airport.
That casual intimacy. That claim.
My eyes burn with tears I don't let fall. It's a kind of pain that never leaves… one that keeps digging deeper until there's nothing left inside me but emptiness. Like a bomb that went off in the middle of my life, leaving me forever picking up the pieces.
The day after Ethan saw a small part of what was on Mark’s tablet—things I wish he never had—I had a difficult conversation with him. I went into his room carrying his favorite cookies and a glass of warm milk with honey, the way he’s liked it since hewas little. The moment he looked at me, I knew he understood exactly why I was there.
He already knew his father had cheated on me. But knowing that, and truly grasping the extent of that betrayal, were two very different things.
I tried to get him to talk, especially about the text he’d seen, the one from the day before his birthday. But Ethan refused.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Mom. It’s in the past.”
His gaze drops, shoulders tensing as if he’s sorting through words he can’t quite say. I wait, silent, until he finally looks up again.
“Are you going to forgive him?” he asks, his voice barely more than a whisper. “Is this just temporary? Is he coming back?”
I rise from the chair and sit beside him on the edge of the bed. My hand finds his cheek, and the sorrow etched into his features cracks something open inside me.
“No, honey.” I press a kiss to his forehead. “Forgiveness isn’t something I can even think about right now. It’s just too raw. But it’s over. He’s not coming back. I couldn’t do that to myself, or to you and your sister.”
Ethan wraps his arms around me, holding on tight, and the tears spill before I can stop them.
“We’re going to be okay, Mom,” he whispers. “We don’t need him. It’s not like he’s really been here these last few years anyway.”
He presses a kiss to the top of my head, and that small, tender gesture makes me smile through the tears.
“I’ll take care of you and Alicia. We’ll be fine.”
That’s what makes me pull back, wiping my face.
“No, Ethan. I’m the one who’s supposed to take care of you.”
He starts to argue, but I don’t let him.
“I might be bruised, maybe even broken right now, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm your mother. And being your mother means I love, I protect, I keep going. Even when it hurts.”
