“About Rebecca.”
I stared.
“How did Jenna know?”
Melissa swallowed.
“She heard something years ago.”
“From who?”
“Your sister.”
My stomach tightened.
My younger sister, Claire.
Claire knew.
I had told her after Rebecca kissed me.
She urged me to tell Melissa.
I refused.
Apparently Claire mentioned it to Jenna during a drunken birthday weekend years later.
And Melissa learned.
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
I stared.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“For three years.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you ask me?”
Melissa looked at the floor.
“Because I wanted to keep it.”
The answer chilled me.
“Keep it for what?”
She began crying.
“In case I ever needed it.”
CHAPTER 5: THE INSURANCE POLICY
That sentence changed the story.
Not because Melissa knew about Rebecca.
Because she had treated the secret like currency.
“You kept it.”
She nodded.
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“Yes, you do.”
She wiped her face.
“I was angry.”
“For three years?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
She looked toward the window.
“Later it made me feel less guilty.”
I understood.
“About Evan.”
She nodded.
“When did Evan begin?”
“Emotionally?”
“Yes.”
“About seven months ago.”
“Physically?”
“Two months.”
The timeline sharpened.
Rebecca's kiss had happened before our wedding.
Melissa learned about it three years ago.
She did not confront me.
Instead, years later, when she began crossing boundaries with Evan, she used my hidden mistake as private permission.
“You told yourself I had done it first.”
“Yes.”
I almost admired the human ability to manufacture fairness.
“Did Evan know?”
“Eventually.”
“What did you tell him?”
“That you had cheated before we married.”
“That isn't what happened.”
“I know.”
“Now?”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“I needed it to feel bigger.”
That sentence hurt differently.
Melissa had not merely hidden my mistake.
She had enlarged it.
Changed it.
Then used the altered version to justify her own decisions.
“Who sent the card?”
“I don't know.”
“Jenna?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
Melissa looked uneasy.
“Because she hates Evan.”
That surprised me.
“I thought Jenna supported your freedom.”
“She did at first.”
“What changed?”
“She met him.”
I waited.
“She thought he was using me.”
“For what?”
Melissa hesitated.
Then:
“Money.”
CHAPTER 6: EVAN WASN'T LEAVING HIS WIFE
I had not known Evan was married.
Melissa did.
That fact landed almost comically.
“You slept with a married man.”
“He said they were separated.”
“Were they?”
“I thought so.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“Not exactly.”
Evan had told Melissa his marriage existed only on paper.
Separate bedrooms.
Separate lives.
Staying together temporarily because of finances and their fifteen-year-old daughter.
Classic.
Melissa believed him.
Or wanted to.
He told her he would leave after a business deal closed.
He wanted to start a boutique consulting firm.
Melissa had savings.