“I confronted him,” Tessa continued. “At first, he tried to tell me it wasn’t what it looked like. Then he admitted you were his wife, but claimed the marriage had been over for months.”
“We had breakfast together the morning he left,” I said.
“I realized that when I saw your messages,” she confessed.
“You read them?”
“Only the ones that appeared on the screen. You told him you loved him and asked him to call before bed.”
She sounded ashamed, though none of this was her fault.
“Is that when you wrote on his back?”
She gave a short, bitter laugh.
“He fell asleep facedown beside the pool. I had sunscreen in my bag. I thought about pouring a drink on him, but that seemed too easy.”
Despite everything, I almost smiled.
“How did you make the letters?”
“The resort had cardboard signs for a scavenger hunt. I tore one apart and cut the word into it with nail scissors.”
“That took commitment.”
“I was furious.”
“Good.”
Silence passed between us.
Then Tessa said, “I’m sorry, Rachel. I truly didn’t know.”
“I believe you.”
“He told me you were controlling. He said you monitored his money and never let him go anywhere alone.”
I looked through the window at the kitchen where Grant and I had eaten dinner the night before.
“I never checked his phone,” I said. “I never questioned his trips. I trusted him.”
“I trusted him too.”
That was when my anger shifted.
Until then, part of me had still imagined Tessa as a participant in Grant’s betrayal, despite what her note said.
Hearing her voice made the truth clear.
He had not simply lied to me.
He had created two different versions of himself and handed each of us a separate story.
“I sent him messages this morning,” I admitted.
“What kind of messages?”
“I bought a prepaid number and pretended to be you.”
Tessa went silent.
Then she asked, “What did he say?”
I read the conversation aloud.
When I finished, she said, “He told me I knew what it was?”
“Yes.”
“He spent two months telling me he wanted a future with me.”
“What would you like to do about that?”
Her voice steadied.
“What did you have in mind?”
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