My Husband and My Best Friend's Ten-Year Betrayal

2.

I'd barely gotten into the car when a text from Alex came through.

"Not feeling well? Go home and rest."

"Don't bother with dinner tonight. I'm taking Daisy out to eat."

I didn't reply.

Through the car window, I saw Alex with his arm around Daisy's slim waist, the two of them laughing over something.

To everyone watching, they were the couple.

Back home, I set the divorce papers I'd prepared long ago on the table.

Ever since Alex found out from me that Daisy was divorced, he'd become a different man.

Every time Daisy came over, he'd insist on cooking himself, even turning down important projects to do it.

Whenever I asked him about it,

he'd always say, your best friend's here, I have to do it up right so everyone knows you've got a good husband.

I didn't think much of it then. Men liked to put on a show for outsiders, I figured. Normal enough.

But it kept happening.

Anytime Daisy was in a bad mood and came to me to vent, Alex couldn't stop himself from swooping in to comfort her.

Looking back now, I realized how much of a fool I'd been.

So it turned out all those odd little things had been there all along, plain to see.

I'd just trusted Alex too much to ever think that way.

But now, all I wanted was out.

I left the keys on the entryway table, then boarded a plane to Riverton.

The next day, it was already two in the afternoon when I got off the plane.

The moment I turned my phone on, I saw thirty missed calls from Alex.

The message alerts wouldn't stop chiming.

I opened the thread. It was all Alex complaining about me.

First, a message from eight that morning.

"Daisy drank too much last night, had a stomachache the whole time. Make her some of that oatmeal, I'll come get it in a bit."

Ten in the morning.

"Beatrice, are you ever going to stop with this?"

"Where the hell did you go?"

"You've even got the nerve to turn your phone off."

"Fine. You want to push it, then push it all the way. Don't ever come back."

I read through them one by one and couldn't help but laugh out loud.

He'd spent the whole night taking care of Daisy, and only now did he think of me.

I let out a cold laugh and was about to hail a car when the phone rang again.

It was Alex.

The second I hit answer, his furious voice came through the earpiece.

"Beatrice, are you done with this? Fine, you won't make Daisy her soup, but you actually had the nerve to cyberbully her."

"What is wrong with you?"

"Alex, if I told you I didn't do it, would you believe me?" I said.

"You're a jealous woman, there's nothing you wouldn't do. Get over here and apologize to Daisy right now, or don't expect me to ever forgive you!"

There wasn't a shred of doubt in his voice.

I wiped the tears from the corner of my eye and said it word by word.

"Let's get a divorce!"