“Cash was right,” I said, turning away.
My husband was cheating on me.
I let the thought expand in my brain, fill every space until it was pressing against my skull.
I had always been the quiet, careful, logical type. I wasn’t quick, I wasn’t rash, I wasn’t easily angered.
But nothing else mattered but this. There was nothing that could be weighed against this.
My life with Frankie was over.
“Cash? What does he have to do with it?”
My eyes roamed over the coffee shop as I slowly pulled my wedding band off.
“The most important thing now is that our marriage be dissolved as quickly as possible.”
“Jillian—god, stop! Please, stop! This was just a mistake.”
He was stumbling over Christabelle and hissing at her to go. Pulling his pants up, butIwas at the filing cabinets pulling out our documents.
“I’ll find a lawyer so they can help us split our assets properly. It shouldn’t take very long. I’d prefer to finish out the day at the coffee shop, and then we can work out a schedule so we don’t have to be here for the same shifts.”
Frankie’s eyes were wide now, panic in his face.
“I won’t do it again, I promise! Please, it was just a mistake!”
I said nothing.
“Don’t you love me?” he cried, barreling into the cabinet next to me.
“What does that matter?”
“Please, for god’s sake, give me a chance to explain!”
Suddenly, there was a noise at the window and Mrs. Greenberg was there pounding on the glass with her cane.
“Reprobate! I saw you and that no-good trollop last night through my window! At first I thought you were wrestling a burglar, then I figured out what it was. ADULTERY!”
Her voice was loud enough to carry, and now people were starting to head back into the coffee shop after our lunch break.
Everyone was looking at us with naked fascination, and embarrassment and humiliation washed over me.
“I just—I messed up, please,” Frankie begged. “We did used to date and it was a little—more serious than I might have let on. I got a bit confused but please—please don’t be hasty.”
There was a little smirk on Christabelle’s face as she twirled a long curl around her finger.
“No,” I said.
His face was crimson now, and he was panting so hard I thought he might faint.
“I didn’t—didn’t go all the way.”
“This time?”
“Any time!” he howled. “I know it—looks bad, but I’ll tell you everything. Everything. I promise. Just please promise you won’t leave me!”
“No. We’re through, Frankie.”
