Kiara was standing next to me by the car and started asking when we’d leave. Something gnawed at my stomach. The feeling you get when something is off, but you don’t know why yet.
I tried calling.
I flagged down a woman I’d seen before — Sister Marianne — and asked her to watch Kiara for five minutes. She smiled kindly and took my daughter’s hand, chatting about lemonade and cookies while I went back inside.
I checked the men’s bathroom. Empty.
That’s when I saw him.
As I turned back into the hallway, I spotted him through a half-open window at the end of the hall. He was in the church garden, talking to a woman I had never seen before.
That’s when I saw him.
She was tall, blonde, and dressed in a cream sweater and pearls. She was the kind of woman who looked as if she chaired book clubs and Homeowners’ Associations.
Her arms were crossed tightly over her chest. Brian was animated, talking with his hands, stepping closer than I liked.
The window was cracked open, probably to let in the spring breeze.
And I heard every word.
Brian was animated…
“Do you understand what I did?” Brian said, his voice low but raw. “I brought my family here… so that I could show you what you lost when you left me.”
My whole body went cold.
“We could’ve had it all,” he went on. “A family, a real life, more kids. You and me. If you wanted the perfect picture, the house, the church… I’m ready now. I’ll do anything. Anything.”
I didn’t breathe or move!
I just stood there, frozen — a spectator to the collapse of my entire marriage.
My whole body went cold.
The woman’s reply came slowly. Her voice was calm, but had a steely edge to it.
“I feel sorry for your wife,” she said. “And your daughter. Because they have you for a husband and father.”
Brian blinked as if she’d physically hit him.
She didn’t stop. “I’ll say this once. We are never getting back together. You need to stop contacting me. This obsession you’ve had since high school? It’s not love. It’s creepy. Stalker-level creepy.”
“I feel sorry for your wife.”
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