Page 35 of Finding Forever

“How do you know? How long have you been suspecting this?”

The thought of my father being a cheater had never been one I had to contend with. In my eyes, he was sweet, patient, and reliable. But then again, I wasn’t married to him, so it made sense that I held my own bias.

“About a month ago, he told me he was coming up here to visit Mycah. It was short notice, but now that he’s retired, he can travel at the drop of a dime, so I didn’t think anything of it. He told me this elaborate story about Mycah being out of school for the summer and wanting to spend some time with him.”

But we were on vacation a month ago.

Before today, I hadn’t seen my father in months. I wondered why he would tell such a lie. The troublesome thought caused a frown to form but didn’t interrupt.

“He stayed for two weeks and then he came home.”

Wait a minute.

We were gone for two weeks a month ago. The only person who hadn’t made the trip was my mother.

“It wasn’t until recently that I learned he was lying. I learned from your sister that you all were in North Beach for those two weeks, so Mycah was nowhere near here for him to visit.”

I could see Gloria putting the pieces of the puzzle together in her head. Sorrow was etched across her face as she stopped mid-sentence to wipe a tear with a tissue.

My heart went out to her. Whether my father was actually cheating on her was still up for debate. However, in her heart, hewas,and that was all it took for the heartbreak she was feeling to seep through the cracks of her marriage. A marriage she had probably felt confident in before this discovery.

Most of all, I hated how much I could empathize with her. I’d gone through an identical experience when I found out about Chris’ infidelity.

“I’m not taking up for him,” I spoke cautiously. “But do you think he could be lying for another reason? And maybe it’s not another woman, but maybe a big pleasing surprise?”

Now that I’d said it out loud, neither option sounded good. A lie was a lie. And your spouse should be the last person you lied to. Especially lies that were so easy to fact check. I wondered why my dad hadn’t thought that far ahead. I talked to my other younger siblings all the time. Of course, they would know my whereabouts from time to time.

“I don’t know,” Gloria wailed. “I wish I knew the reason for the secrecy. Why was he here for two weeks if you all weren’t here? And why did he come back so soon after?”

She had the same questions I had. The only difference was that I hadn’t voiced mine. My mother walked in seconds later and found us on the sofa in the dimly lit living room.

She looked spooked to see our guest. “Gloria! Is everything okay?”

Gloria looked up at the sound of her voice.

“Malina,” she said tersely.

Quickly, I filled my mother in about what was going on and watched her impassive face the whole time. She didn’t look moved, and that made me suspect that something was amiss. My mother was one of the most compassionate people I knew, and she was acting like this?

“Well, I don’t want to be a burden. I just had to check this out for myself. I got a room at the hotel airport, so I’ll be leaving now.”

Gloria looked dejected and distraught. I wished there was something that I could do to fix it, but this woman was in search of answers I didn’t possess.

As soon as the door closed behind Gloria, I turned to my mother with a raised brow.

“You’ve been acting strange all day. What’s going on?”

My mom tucked a nonexistent flyaway behind her ear and shrugged. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I think Dad is hiding something. And I think you’re in on it.”

There was a pregnant pause, where it looked like she was weighing her options and what she wanted to say. Luckily for me, she decided on the truth.

“You’re right, baby. I have been hiding something from you.”

Maverick

Gina’s mom agreed to watch the kids tonight. Which meant that I was finally going to meet her. There were not a lot of things in my life that made me nervous, but this did. For obvious reasons, I wanted her to like me. The feelings I had for her daughter were getting deeper by the day. I wanted her mother to confidently know that she was in good hands.

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