Page 41 of Until He Confesses

She sighed.

“This seems to be the problem, you never give him the time of day.”

“Don’t I deserve not to?” I asked and she stared at me. And then she straightened.

“I want to ask you a question and I know how sensitive you are about it so please don’t get too defensive.”

I didn’t respond but it was enough that she could go ahead to ask what she wanted to.

“He seemed to not understand at all why you broke up with him, and thinks that perhaps it’s because of his inadequacy in some form, not that he seems apologetic about it, I mean how could he be? The man's got everything.”

I glared at her, and she gave me a sheepish smile. But then she rose to her feet and started to head over to me.

“My question for you is when I mentioned, and again I’m sorry, but when I mentioned that you broke things off with him because he cheated on you, he seemed lost. As though he had no idea what I was talking about.”

I couldn’t help but scoff in amusement.

“He’s still a wonderful actor I see.”

“Hm, I might be quite playful, but you know that I’m also very sensitive to people.”

“And?”

“And he didn’t seem to be acting. I mean he has no reason to. Who did you hear the report from in the first place?”

“You think I just decided to accuse him and end our relationship based on hearsay?”

“You've never talked about it,” she said. “You’ve never told me how you found out. I know how much it hurt you and how much you wanted to try to move on quickly, but you’ve never really shared the details. I’m not asking you to share them with me now, but I do want to ask you how you found out. I mean what evidence do you have?”

I remained quiet for a while and then I decided there was no need to keep anything from her so I replied.

“Are pictures and a video enough proof?” I asked.

Her eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious?”

I frowned and carried my finished pie over to the oven.

“Oh wow,” she said. “I didn’t think he was the kind. But what kind of pictures and videos were they? Did they show his face clearly or just his body from a distance? Maybe the person looked like him but wasn’t him.”

“It was up close,” I replied. “If I was shown a picture of you, wouldn’t I be able to identify you?”

She stared at me and then her shoulders slumped downward.

“I was hoping that it wouldn’t be the case. If your conclusion was based on hearsay, then I was going to reopen the investigation.”

I shook my head as I headed over to the sink to wash my hands and began to clean up the messy kitchen.

“There’s nothing to investigate. The evidence was as clear as day and I gave him more than enough time to confess. In short, I think at some point I had deluded myself into hoping that he wouldn’t because he couldn’t stand to be separated from me. Until he began to plan out our future and even suggest that I fashion mine after his. I realized then just how selfish he was and that he didn’t give a shit about me. I was just a convenient decoy for him and his secret.”

“Decoy?” she asked. “His secret? What do you mean?’

I considered whether I wanted to share this bit.

“What does decoy mean to you?” I asked and she frowned.

“Don’t make this complicated. Just say exactly what you mean.”

I decided then that there was no need to keep any of it to myself anymore. Many years had gone by and despite his unwanted reappearance in my life he was still someone that I didn’t want anything to do with and so I told her the truth.

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