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

1.

My best friend Daisy Fox asked me to go to the amusement park, and the second my husband Alex Simmons heard about it, he insisted on coming along.

What fun is it with just the two of you? he said. I'll drive you.

At the time I actually thought it was sweet of him. Then Daisy said she wanted to ride the giant swing.

I told them I was afraid of heights. Alex's face went dark, and he grabbed my arm.

"Look at Daisy, then look at yourself. Scared of a swing seat. Aren't you embarrassed?"

He pressed me down into the seat, and at the very top I was shaking all over.

When it was over my legs were so weak I was dry-heaving in a corner, but all he did was toss me a wad of tissues, annoyed.

"Quit the act. Wipe your face and go get Daisy a bottle of water."

I lifted my head and saw him holding Daisy's hand, gazing at her.

"Scared you half to death, didn't it? I shouldn't have picked that ride."

Daisy gave him a shy little look.

"It's all your fault, insisting the front row had the best view. Now she's thrown up. Bea won't be mad, will she?"

I watched the two of them, thick with feeling for each other, and pulled out my phone and booked a ticket back to my parents' place.

Ten years of marriage. It was time to put an end to it.

I dropped the tissues in the trash and turned toward the exit. Behind me, Daisy's voice came quickly.

"Alex, go after her. Bea's definitely upset."

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have suggested the giant swing."

Alex jogged after me and grabbed my wrist.

He planted himself in front of me. Not one word of concern. The first thing out of his mouth was:

"Are you done throwing your fit?"

"We finally get a day out, and you have to ruin the mood?"

"I just asked you to get Daisy a bottle of water. Who are you making that face at?"

"Isn't she your best friend? I was being nice, looking after her for you. Was that wrong too?"

I looked at him, so full of righteous indignation, and couldn't help laughing out loud.

I'm afraid of heights. I told them so before we ever got on.

Not only did he not care, he thought I was an embarrassment.

For a cheap thrill, he ignored what anyone might think and held my best friend's hand in front of everyone.

Now that I want to leave, he comes to scold me in public for everything I've done wrong.

Absolutely laughable.

Just then Daisy hurried over and looped her arm through mine.

"Bea, it's all my fault. I didn't know you were afraid of heights. I didn't think about how you'd feel."

"Don't be angry. If you don't want to ride anymore, I'll go back with you."

Her voice was soft, her face full of guilt.

"Just, you two shouldn't fight. There are so many people around. Don't give them a show to laugh at."

I looked at Daisy, so noble and reasonable.

She said it beautifully. Anyone who didn't know better would think I was the one with no sense of restraint, deliberately picking a fight with them.

"All right, that's enough. I got you your favorite, a mango smoothie, iced," he said.

"Take it. Drink up and stop being so hotheaded."

And with that he shoved the mango smoothie into my hand.

Ninety-eight degrees out.

It made me shiver on the spot. Then I watched him hand the passion fruit juice to Daisy, his voice gentle.

"Your stomach's bad, and you're allergic to mango, so I got you one at room temperature."

Daisy smiled at him and took a happy sip.

"So sweet!"

"Thank you, Alex. I only told you once, and you actually remembered."

Then she turned her gaze on me, looking at me with envy all over her face.

"Bea, look how good Alex is to you. Where do you find a man this thoughtful?"

"You! For the sake of him buying you a drink, quit sulking at him."

I suddenly laughed.

Before we left the house today, I made a point of telling Alex I was on my period and not feeling well.

If he bought me a drink during the day, I asked him to get me one at room temperature.

At the time he'd been crouched down beside me, gently rubbing my belly, smiling.

"Don't worry. Your stomach hurts every time you're on your period. I know what to do."

I looked down at the iced drink in my hand and wanted to have it out with him.

I wanted to ask him whether he'd ever kept me in his heart at all.

But then I saw him take the tissue in his hand and gently dab the beads of sweat from Daisy's forehead.

And just like that, I felt there was no point.

Without another word I shoved the drink back at Alex and said,

"I'm not feeling well. I'm going."

"You two have fun here."

That was all.

I'd barely taken two steps when I heard Daisy say she wanted to go back with me.

But Alex stopped her.

"Ignore her. She's always got some drama going on."

"Let her cool off on her own. That's fine too."

"Come on, let's get back to the rides!"

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!"

3.

What did you say?

Alex's furious voice split my eardrum.

Say it again.

You want a divorce?

Five years of marriage. I knew him too well.

Any time a female coworker asked him for help, he'd cling to it for days, offering himself up, telling her that if she ever needed anything she could come to him.

Those women got so unnerved by how needy he was that they drifted away from him one by one, and only then would it fizzle out.

But this time, after he met Daisy, she praised him more than once. Told him his cooking was delicious. Told him he was a man who took responsibility.

It gave him back that feeling of being needed, of being a man.

He started floating on it, so drunk on Daisy's flattery he couldn't find which way was up.

Alex was still roaring into the phone.

Before, I would have scrambled to explain, terrified he'd read too much into it.

But now.

Now every extra sentence I said to him felt like wasted time.

All the resentment I carried toward Alex, all the bitterness and the swallowed grievances of these years, rose to the tip of my tongue, and in the end I swallowed them down again.

It wasn't that I wasn't angry. It wasn't that I wasn't hurt.

I just didn't see the point.

With someone who doesn't care about you, no amount of words changes anything.

When I still didn't speak, he acted like I'd insulted him, his voice jumping a notch louder.

Beatrice, I'm talking to you. Do you hear me?

Have you gone mute?

I took a deep breath. My voice came out soft.

It's nothing.

I'm a little tired. Let's just leave it here.

I didn't wait for him to answer. I hung up, then deleted both him and Daisy and blocked them.

In the car.

I saw the posts Daisy had put up to smear me. They were trending.

There was a video in the link.

The video was shot inside the apartment I'd rented for her. A pipe was leaking, and my husband was there fixing it, his clothes soaked through.

I remembered it perfectly.

That night was my birthday.

The food had just been set down when Alex answered a call and shot up out of his chair.

Daisy's pipe is leaking, I'm going to go check on it. Finish eating and go home on your own, don't wait up.

He didn't even give me a chance to say anything. He just turned and left.

That night, I sat alone with that whole table of food until the restaurant closed.

The pity in the waiter's eyes as I left, I still can't forget it.

I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes, and only then did I notice the screenshot attached below the video.

It was my profile picture.

But those words didn't sound like anything I'd said to Daisy.

The screenshotted chat showed me interrogating her.

Your pipe is leaking, so why couldn't you call a plumber? Why did it have to be Alex? Do you even know it's my birthday today?

Be honest with yourself. You've got your eye on my husband, don't you, you slut!

Then came Daisy's replies, over and over, explaining to me that the pipe had burst late at night, that it was an emergency, that she hadn't known what else to do but ask Alex for help.

Below that screenshot, Daisy had added a caption.

She'd dressed herself up as the victim, saying I'd smeared her again and again, that I'd even gone to her parents' house to cause a scene, that I'd sent her father into the hospital with a heart attack.

At the end she'd added one more line I only hope she can believe that there's really nothing going on between me and her husband.

She was the one tangled up with my husband, and now she was dumping the filth on my head.

I couldn't imagine it.

When her own marriage was betrayed, when she drank until she threw up, I'd taken care of her through all of it.

Even after her divorce, when she said she wanted to come to my city for a while, maybe find a job, get a change of scenery.

I felt for her then.

I knew the divorce had hit her hard, so I'd rented her an apartment near mine so we could see each other easily.

I never thought.

I'd let the wolf in myself, and with my own hands watched the happiness I'd pieced together shatter across the floor again the moment she walked in.

I didn't confront her. I didn't comment. I didn't call.

I just stared at that photo for a long time, then cleared my browsing history and shut off my phone.

My fingers were cold.

Through the car window I watched the traffic go by, and couldn't help letting out a sigh.

I asked myself, did I hate them?

I did.

I just didn't fall apart, didn't tear off the mask and scream it all out at them.

Instead it felt like leaving was the best ending there could be.

Knowing Alex the way I did, if I asked for a divorce, he would never let me off easily.

But I wasn't afraid.

For whatever was left of my life, I no longer wanted to please anyone. I only wanted to be myself.

4.

Riverton.

I'd just gotten out of the car, still working out what to say to my mother when I saw her.

A woman came toward me from across the street, a bag of groceries in her hand, her whole face lighting up at the sight of me.

"Bea!"

"It really is you!"

She came right up and looked me over.

"All this time, no word, and you've gotten even prettier."

I glanced up, gave her an awkward smile, and was about to move on.

Then she called out toward the roadside stall at the corner.

"Hey, your daughter Beatrice is back!"

I followed her gaze, and my eyes met my mother's.

She was in the middle of haggling with a vendor. When she saw me, she froze for a second, then hurried over.

"Bea, why didn't you tell me you were coming? Look how thin you've gotten."

"Come here, let your mom get a look at you."

Tears were welling in her eyes.

In that instant the divorce, the online attacks, the accusation about the car, a whole chest of grief all jammed up in my throat, and I couldn't get out a single word.

"I had a business trip nearby, so I figured I'd stop by and see you."

"I leave tomorrow!"

"So soon?"

Her voice went soft, threaded with disappointment.

I drew a breath, leaned into her shoulder on purpose, and put on a little whine.

"Oh, Mom, I'm here now, aren't I?"

"I can spend the whole day with you today. Aren't you happy about that?"

"I'm starving. Let's hurry home!"

"You!"

At that, my mother couldn't help but smile at me.

Back in my room, nothing about the layout had changed. It was still exactly the way it had been before I married.

The books I used to read all the time before the wedding were still there on the desk.

I ran my finger lightly over the surface and found not a speck of dust.

My mother had clearly been cleaning it, again and again.

The thought of it, and the tears came sliding down once more, out of my control.

After dinner.

I went to the park for a walk and found they'd built a running track, with a big lake sitting inside the loop.

Time really did move fast.

Before I'd even noticed, six years had gone by since I married.

I was still lost in all of it when my phone rang. An unknown number.

I hesitated a moment, then pressed answer.

Before I could get a word out, a familiar voice came through the receiver.

"Beatrice, are you ever going to stop causing trouble?"

"You smeared Daisy online, and she didn't even come after you for it, and now you've got the nerve to hire someone to run her down with a car."

"If I hadn't gotten her to the hospital in time, the doctor said she'd have lost the use of her leg."

"Isn't she supposed to be your best friend? All I did was spend a couple of days with her, and you want her dead over it?"

"How did I never see how cruel you are?"

"Get to the hospital right now and apologize to Daisy, or I'll never forgive you!"

I could picture the look on Alex's face on the other end.

But I couldn't be bothered to argue with him. A man who couldn't even tell right from wrong wasn't worth the breath.

So I cleared my throat, raised my voice on purpose, and said it out slow and clear.

"Go yourself if you want. I will never admit to something I didn't do!"

"You!"

"Fine, that's just great!"

I'd pushed him over the edge. Even his voice was shaking now.

"Beatrice, you remember what you did today."

"You vicious woman. How was I ever blind enough to marry you?"

"I'd love to see how a divorced woman gets by without me!"