“Okay, you’re driving. Maybe you should call me when you get home.”
“Why? What can’t you tell me now?”
“Can you pull over for a minute?”
My heart started pounding. She was still at the hospital, and Simon was now on shift. I immediately began to worry. “Did something happen? Is Simon okay?”
“Everyone’s fine. It’s nothing like that.”
“Okay…”
Pulling into the parking lot of a karate studio right off the main road, I touched my hand to my chest and could feel my heart thumping against it. “I’m parked. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I was doing some shopping on the East Side today before work tonight, and I happened to walk by this café. I saw Simon there with a woman.”
My stomach sank.
“What? Are you sure it was him?”
“Positive. I stood in the window for a while to confirm it. He was pretty deep into a conversation and didn’t notice me standing there.”
“So, they were merely talking?”
“He wasn’t doing anything wrong, per se, but I just wanted to make sure you know what I saw. I thought it was odd. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I just couldn’t go about my night without at least telling you.”
The nausea was getting worse.
“Have you seen Simon tonight in the ER?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’ve treated a few patients with him, and honestly, he seems…off. Really downtrodden, not his normal, chipper self.”
“What did she look like…this woman?”
“She had long, dark hair—looked Italian. Attractive. Obviously I wouldn’t be concerned if he was having lunch with some ugly old lady.”
“What else can you tell me?”
Her voice sounded muffled. Or was it my brain?
“She was wearing a navy dress and bright red lipstick.”
Bright red lipstick.
My voice was shaky. “Anything else?”
“No. That was it. Like I said, they were talking. They both had coffees. Honestly, it makes me sick to be starting any trouble for you. You seemed so happy that last time we spoke.”
“Don’t you dare feel bad. I would have done the same thing. I’ll talk to him and get to the bottom of it.”
After we hung up, I couldn’t move. It was like the shock had paralyzed me, preventing me from knowing how to even start the car.
In my heart, I felt that Simon would never do anything to hurt me. But when he’d checked in with me today, he said he spent the afternoon catching up on sleep, nothing more. So, even if this woman was just some friend or acquaintance that he’d never told me about, the fact remained that he had lied to me.
I drove home in a daze, barely remembering how I had gotten there.
Should I text him?
I honestly didn’t know what to do. Deciding to pour myself that wine, I started to gulp it down unusually fast. I mindlessly made my way down to the basement and put in a load of laundry, not even paying attention to whether I had mixed whites with colors.
A text came in, interrupting the monotony. It was from Simon.Simon: I love you so much.That was so random, that it came in this moment as if he could sense my strife. Tears started to fall. What if Ginny was wrong, and I ended up accusing him of something he didn’t do? I valued the trust that he and I’d developed in our relationship. Even questioning him about something like this would damage that, regardless of what actually happened.
My brain was going a mile a minute. If I could only look in his eyes, maybe I would find the answer. He wouldn’t be off his shift until six tomorrow morning. I felt like I was going to burst if I didn’t talk to him soon.Bridget: Can you wake me when you get home in the morning? I really need to talk to you about something.The phone rang almost immediately. Simon sounded concerned. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine, physically. But there’s something I need to talk to you about. It’s important. So please just wake me if I’m not up.”
As much as I tried to hide my freaking out, he knew from my tone. “What’s going on, Bridget?”
“I’d rather not talk about it on the phone.”
I could hear the worry in his voice. “Let me see if I can get someone to cover me. Stay where you are. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”
“Alright.”
About a half-hour later, Simon sent me another text.Simon: Managed to get Dr. Lowry to fill in for me through the rest of the night. I’ll have to cover for him tomorrow though. Just got in the car. On my way. Be home soon.Abandoning my laundry, I made my way back upstairs and stayed huddled on the couch while I waited for him.
Fifteen minutes. He couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes away. I felt like I had to cherish these last minutes of hope as scary as they were. Because if it turned out that he lied to me, I might not be able to ever fully trust him again.