Brad placed the appointment papers in front of me.
I didn't touch them.
For a long time, they had represented something I wanted.
A future.
A family.
A reason to believe our marriage still had somewhere to go.
Now they were mixed with the same lies that had damaged everything else.
I looked at the date.
"Is this still scheduled?"
Brad nodded.
"It was supposed to be today."
I stared at him.
"Today?"
"Yes."
I almost laughed.
He had planned to meet Chloe.
He had arranged paperwork connected to our future.
And somehow, he had expected me to understand all of it afterward.
"Why didn't you ask me whether I wanted to go?"
"I thought you would."
"You thought?"
He looked down.
"I thought you'd be happy."
I shook my head.
"You don't get to decide what makes me happy anymore."
Margaret moved closer.
"Perhaps the appointment should be postponed."
Brad nodded.
"That's probably best."
I looked at the papers again.
There was a phone number printed at the bottom.
I wondered whether someone at that office had been waiting for us.
I wondered whether they knew anything about the problems inside our marriage.
I didn't want to drag another person into our confusion.
"Did you tell them I was coming?"
Brad nodded.
"They had our names."
"Did you explain that I hadn't agreed to anything?"
He looked uncomfortable.
"No."
I placed the document down.
"Then call them."
He picked up his phone.
This time, he didn't look at Margaret for approval.
He made the call himself.
He explained that the appointment needed to be postponed.
He didn't give unnecessary details.
He simply said that we needed more time.
When he finished, he placed the phone on the table.
I felt strangely relieved.
At least one decision had finally been made honestly.
Margaret stood.
"I should go."
Brad looked at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
She turned toward me.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
I nodded.
I wasn't ready to forgive her.
But I appreciated the apology.
At the front door, she stopped.
"Whatever happens between you two, don't let this morning decide everything."
I looked at her.
"What do you mean?"
"You're both hurt. Don't make another decision while you're angry."
I didn't answer.
She left.
The door closed behind her.
For the first time since I returned home, Brad and I were alone.
He remained standing.
I remained seated.
The silence between us was different now.
Before, it had been filled with suspicion.
Now it was filled with things we could no longer pretend not to know.
Brad eventually sat across from me.
"Can I ask you something?"
I nodded.
"Did you really think I was going to meet Chloe this morning?"
I stared at him.
"Yes."
He looked surprised.
"Why?"
I pointed toward his shirt.
"Because you were wearing the perfume she asked you to wear."
He looked down.
I continued.
"Because I found the messages. Because you were hiding your phone. Because you kept coming home late. Because you lied."
Brad rubbed his hands together.
"I understand."
"No, I don't think you do."
He looked at me.
"I spent months wondering what was wrong with me."
His expression softened.
"I never wanted you to feel that way."
"But you allowed it."
He lowered his head.
I continued.
"I wondered whether I was unattractive. Whether I was boring. Whether I wasn't giving you enough attention."
He didn't interrupt.
"I even started changing little things about myself because I thought maybe you had stopped wanting to be around me."
Brad looked at me.
"I'm sorry."
I nodded.
"I know."
But an apology didn't erase the months I'd spent questioning myself.
I looked toward the bedroom.
His blue shirt was still hanging over the back of the chair.
The expensive cologne was on the dresser.
The tie Chloe had chosen was somewhere in the bedroom.
I didn't want to see any of it.
"Are you still involved with her?"
Brad shook his head.
"No."
"Did you end it?"
He hesitated.
"I told her I needed to stop."
"That's not the same thing."
He looked down.
"You're right."
I waited.
He picked up his phone.
Then he opened the conversation with Chloe.
I watched him type.
He wrote that he would no longer continue their personal relationship.
He said he had to take responsibility for what he had done to his marriage.
He didn't ask me to approve the message.
He didn't show me a carefully prepared speech.
He simply sent it.
I didn't feel victorious.
I felt exhausted.
A few seconds later, his phone vibrated.
Chloe had replied.
He read the message.
His expression changed.
"What did she say?"
He turned the screen toward me.
Her reply was short.
"Then you need to tell her everything. Not just the part that makes you look guilty."
I read it twice.
I looked at Brad.
"What does that mean?"
He didn't answer immediately.
I placed the phone down.
"Brad, I'm tired of discovering things through messages."
He nodded.
"I know."
"Then tell me."
He took a long breath.
"There was something else about the appointment."
I felt my stomach tighten again.
"What?"
He reached for the second document.
It was the one I'd barely examined earlier.
He turned it toward me.
"This is why I asked Chloe to help."
I looked at the heading.
It was a preliminary consultation summary.
There were several notes beneath it.
I read them slowly.
Some of the information referred to previous appointments we'd attended years earlier.
Other details were new.
I looked up.
"Why didn't you show me this before?"
Brad swallowed.
"Because I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
He looked at me.
"That you would think I had given up on our dream."
I stared at him.
He continued.
"I found out there were things we needed to discuss before moving forward. I didn't know how to bring them up."
I looked down at the document.
I still didn't understand everything.
But I knew the next conversation would be important.
And I wanted it to happen without another person speaking for either of us.
Click here to continue reading: PART 11: Chloe’s Next Message Forced Brad to Admit That His Affair Had Started With a Lie About Our Marriage
I Thought My Husband Was Meeting Another Woman That Morning, Until One Small Detail Made Me Question Everything
Part 10 of 20
