Page 52 of The Soul Never Forgets

“You aren’t going to believe what just happened.”

Nothing good ever follows those words. “I don’t know if that’s a good ‘you aren’t going to believe what just happened’ or a bad ‘you aren’t going to believe what just happened.’”

“I just walked in on Devin with someone else. She was cheating on me when I got there. I caught her in the act.”

“In theactualact?”

“Naked. In the bed. With a man. In the physical act.”

“Who was he?” Not that I really care.

“I have no idea. Never seen him before.”

This is odd. “Wait. Didn’t she know you were coming over? You texted her, right?”

“I did.”

“Is it possible she misunderstood? What did your text say?”

“I told her I was in Cabo because I needed to see her. I said it was important, and I’d be there in twenty minutes.”

That’s about as clear as one can be. “Maybe she didn’t see your text?”

“She replied with three heart emojis, which is what she always sends me. That’s why I thought it was okay to go. Now I’m thinking she sent the hearts without reading my text.”

That’s what it sounds like. “How did you get in if she didn’t realize you were coming?”

“She didn’t come to the door when I knocked. It was unlocked, so I let myself in. That’s nothing unusual between us. We’ve done it for years, and I had no reason not to this time. Or so I thought.”

“So you go into the place where she’s staying and then what?”

“I heard some noise coming from the back of the condo, so I followed the sound. I opened the bedroom door, and there they were.”

“Did she say anything?”

“Not a word. She buried her face in the pillow, and I walked out because I didn’t know what else to do.”

All of this has been weird to me from the moment he told me she was out of town. I’m not a nurse and don’t claim to know anything about travel assignments, but do nurses from the United States take jobs in other countries? Wouldn’t she need some kind of license to practice in Mexico?

Maybe she has one. I don’t know.

I really don’t care.

Dawsey’s phone vibrates, and he looks down at the screen. “It’s her. She wants to meet with me.”

We put so much thought and effort into doing the right thing. Not to mention restraint. And all this time she was banging someone else.

I feel a little stupid about the whole thing now. But we can walk away from this knowing that we did the right thing. She can’t say the same.

“Do you still feel that you owe her a face-to-face after walking in on that?”

“Regardless, Devin is the woman I’ve spent the last five years with. This talk needs to happen in person.”

He never said so but he wasn’t looking forward to telling her their relationship was over. I could feel how nervous he was this morning. “This must help with the dread you were feeling.”

“It’s a relief. Part of me wants to thank her for screwing around. It’s going to make this a whole lot easier.”

Devin’s Saturday just went to hell in a handbasket. “I’m sure she’s in knots right now, expecting the worst out of the conversation you’re going to have.”

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