“Oh,” Claudia says calmly, taking a bite.
I don’t know why, but her complete lack of shock actually makes me feel better. Like I’m not the biggest disaster she’s ever seen.
I nod. “Yeah. It was about a year ago. But he found out yesterday and… well.” I let out a shaky laugh. “He didn’t take it great.”
Claudia wipes her mouth with a napkin and studies me.
“I imagine he wouldn’t,” she says gently.
I stare down at my fries. “He told me he never wants to see me again.”
Her eyes soften. “How do you feel about that?”
I pick up a fry and drag it through the ketchup.
“I’m angry,” I admit.
“Angry,” she repeats. “Why?”
“Because he cheated first,” I say before I can stop myself.
She tilts her head. “Tell me.”
So, I do.
I tell her everything, how he swore Lenore was just a client, how he suddenly went back into the field only for her, how he spent late nights texting another woman while lying beside me in bed.
I tell her about the kiss.
About them spending the night together in the same suite.
“He had an affair,” I say, my voice shaking a little. “It might not have been physical, but emotional affairs still count.” I twist the napkin in my hands. “He lay in bed next to me texting her, smiling at his phone, and I’m just supposed to believe nothing happened? That it stopped at a kiss?”
Claudia studies me. “You don’t believe him?”
I hesitate.
“I didn’t,” I admit quietly.
She waits, giving me space.
“I went to confront the woman,” I continue. “She wouldn’t even see me. I ended up at a bar instead. Drunk. Angry.” I swallow. “And I made a terrible decision.”
Claudia nods, not interrupting, not judging.
“But here’s the part I don’t understand,” I say. “He seems more furious that I didn’t tell him than about what I actually did. Does that even make sense?”
“It can seem like that,” she says gently. “Sometimes when the pain is too much, we focus on something… not as painful. It doesn’t mean the deeper pain isn’t there.”
I let out a short breath and admit, “Logan has always been a possessive man. I can’t imagine what’s going through his head right now.” Biting my lip I ask, “what do I do?”
“There’s nothing you can do to manage his reaction,” she replies calmly. “This is something your husband has to walk through on his own.”
My chest tightens. “That’s why I couldn’t tell him.”
She tilts her head slightly.
I swallow. “I’d already hurt him. But he didn’t know. So in a way… I got to decide when to break his heart.”
