My Husband Brought His Mistress Home for the Weekend

by

Chapter 12

THEME:
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"Please don't tell me what I am."

He stopped.

I folded my hands around my coffee.

"Why did you bring her to the condo?"

That was the question he had no prepared answer for.

He looked down.

"I thought maybe forcing the situation would make us finally deal with what was happening."

Forcing the situation.

The phrase chilled me.

"You mean you wanted me to make the decision."

"No."

"Yes."

I leaned forward.

"You didn't want to be the man who left his wife for another woman. So you brought her into our home and waited for me to react."

"That's not fair."

"It is exactly what you did."

"I was confused."

"And I made it easier for you."

He looked up.

"By leaving?"

"By refusing to fight over you."

Something flashed across his face.

Not anger.

Fear.

For the first time, I understood a part of Adrian's behavior I had not seen before.

He had expected competition.

Maybe not consciously.

But he had imagined some version of two women proving he mattered.

Lauren choosing him.

Me fighting for him.

Adrian at the center.

My leaving had removed the stage.

"Are you filing for divorce?" he asked.

"I haven't decided when."

"When?"

"Not whether."

He stared at me.

I had not planned the sentence.

Once spoken, it felt true.

He leaned back.

"You've already decided?"

"I signed an apartment lease before Friday."

"So you were planning this behind my back."

The old Natalie might have defended herself.

The new one simply looked at him.

He heard his own hypocrisy.

His eyes dropped.

"I'm sorry."

It was the first clean apology he had offered.

No qualification.

No explanation.

Just two words.

I believed he meant them in that moment.

It changed nothing.

He asked whether I wanted the condo.

I said I didn't know.

We owned it jointly.

There was still a mortgage, though not a large one.

Neither of us could simply erase the other.

We agreed to meet with a mediator.

It felt strangely bureaucratic after everything else.

Marriage had begun with vows and ended with calendar availability.

During the next two weeks, I went back to Unit 2304 twice while Adrian was at work.

The first time, I took winter clothes and books.

The second, I collected the rest of my personal documents and a set of baking dishes that had belonged to my mother.

The ceramic sailboat remained on the shelf.

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