Page 5 of The Vow Thief
“Baby…” He reached for me, but I stepped back.
“Did you call her that? Baby? You practically lived with her, Matt.”
“Sarah, stop! What are you doing? Why are you doing this?” He closed the space between us and caught my arms.
I jerked away, eyes blazing through tears.“Did you fuck her pretty mouth, Matt?”
He recoiled.“Sarah!”
“Tell me!” My voice echoed through the room.
His shoulders sagged, the fight draining from his posture.“We did everything, Sarah. All of it. You’re right. I stayed with her after you kicked me out. We did everything. Is that what you want to hear?” His voice broke, rough and raw.“Is that what you need to rip me apart with?”
I wanted him to tell me, until he did. Now I wished he had never confessed at all. Better to be left in the dark, ignorant, none the wiser. These weren’t the kind of confessions cheating assholes made at kitchen tables. And yet here I was again, staring at him in pure disbelief that he could do something like this to me.
The fight inside of me wasn't about us anymore. It was about me.
His throat worked, his face pure guilt.
“How does it feel,” I whispered, intent on trapping him in this very moment,“to picture yourself between her legs, to remember eating her out, fucking her ass, while you stand here looking at your wife? How does it feel to say it out loud, Matt, while our kids are asleep upstairs?”
The silence between us was a scream. The fire hissed, the clock ticked, and Matt’s chest heaved like he’d been hit.
“Enough,” he said hoarsely, but it was too late. The words were out. The wound was wide open.
“I can’t be with you and not see her in your hands,” I said, my voice trembling.“It rules my thoughts. We won’t work, Matt. The damage is too much.”
I shook my head hard, tears brimming, my words breaking between breaths.“I don’t think we will ever be good again.”
Matt began to pace, running a hand through his hair.“Sarah… what was last night about, then? Today? I thought you wanted to try.”
I turned away from him, arms crossed like a shield.“I admit, I’m confused. There are moments when I think we can move forward. But then I look at you and remember. You are the reminder, Matt. You have proven yourself capable of betrayal. How do I look past that? How do I pretend it never happened?”
A small voice cut through the tension.
At the top of the stairs stood Emily, clutching her stuffed unicorn, eyes wide and wet. My world narrowed to that one small face.
“Oh, baby…” My voice broke as I opened my arms. Emily hurried down the steps and collapsed against me, small arms wrapping tight around my waist.
Matt stepped closer, crouching beside us.“It’s okay, Em.” His hand smoothed over her back.
Emily pulled back just enough to look at him.“Daddy’s crying too.”
I turned, startled. Matt’s eyes were red, tears running unchecked down his face.
“We’re okay,” he said softly, voice catching. He kissed the top of Emily’s head.“Let’s get you back to bed, sweetheart.”
Emily clung tighter to me.“Promise?”
I stroked her hair, swallowing my own lump of guilt.“Promise.”
Even though I knew in that moment, we would never be okay again. The promise sat heavy in the air, unfinished, stretched between all three of us.
I stood with Emily in my arms. Only then did I realize I was still holding Lily’s Post-it note. I turned, pressed it into Matt’s hand.
Matt stared at it for a beat before crumpling it tight. He crossed to the fire and tossed it into the flames. Then he disappeared into the bathroom, shut the door, and turned the lock.
Upstairs, I tucked Emily in, smoothing her hair until her breathing evened out. When I came back down, I stopped at the sound of Matt crying on the other side of the bathroom door. My own tears rose hot and helpless. I grabbed his clean shirt from the arm of the couch and wiped my face with it.
