He Cheated With My Friend My Parents Helped Chapter 32
The slow-blooming smile on his face made me smile, too.
On our first official date, there were no flowers, no expensive restaurant.
He took me to the coffee shop near campus where we used to study. More than a decade ago, he had always sat across from me and Gabriel, quietly watching our bags while we got refills.
“You liked me even back then?” I asked.
Julian lowered his head, stirring his coffee.
“Earlier than you think.”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“When you looked at Gabriel,” he said calmly, “there was no one else in your eyes.”
He wasn’t using the past to ask for anything in the present.
I rested my hand on the table between us.
“There is now.”
Julian looked up.
He didn’t take my hand right away. Instead, he asked, “May I?”
I nodded.
His palm was warm and dry. In that moment, I wasn’t thinking about the marriage I had lost, and I wasn’t comparing him to anyone.
A few weeks later, I went to the hospital for my annual checkup.
The moment the sterile scent of disinfectant hit me, my body went rigid.
I saw it all again: the empty hospital bed, the silent phone, the doctor’s pitying eyes as he told me the baby was gone.
Julian noticed the change in my breathing.
“I can wait outside.”
“You’re not coming in?”
“I will if you need me to. But if you want to be alone, I’ll be right here at the door.”
I looked at him, my eyes stinging.
Everyone in my past had always decided for me what they thought was best.
He was the only one who always gave the choice back to me.
“Come in with me.”
The exam results were good.
When we left the hospital, sunlight was spilling across the front steps.
I didn’t look back.