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I found myself sitting across the table from Mike, staring at him icily. How we got here, I’ll never know. Things seemed so great and yet, here I was, confronting my boyfriend about cheating on me. I’d hoped I’d never be in this situation again, and I’d never thought it would have been with Mike but here I was, waiting for him to explain himself.

After I left the morning after I saw him with that other woman, Mike could tell something was up. He sent me a text asking where I disappeared to and I gave him an excuse about needing to run some early morning errands for work. He seemed to buy that explanation but the reality of it was I needed someone to talk to and I needed some times alone. Molly was out; she couldn’t be objective about this. Zoey was out for the same reason. And that’s how I ended up talking to Penny over her lunch break a few days later.

“So…he lied to you?”

“Yeah,” I stabbed my chicken salad, “he said he was at work.”

“Faith, are you absolutely sure he was on a date with her?”

Penny’s question was fair but I just couldn’t see any other scenario and I told her so.

“If it wasn’t a date, why did he lie?”

“Men lie all the time. Maybe he lied because he knew it would bother you?”

“But it wouldn’t have. And I feel like Mike would know it wouldn’t have bothered me. He’s allowed to hang out with whatever friends he wants. I’ve never banned a boyfriend from having friends. I’ve never been that girl. Why would Mike think that I was?”

Penny gave me a helpless look and shrugged.

“I don’t know what to do.” I sighed.

“I think you need to talk to him and get the full story. It’s going to suck, but obviously it needs to happen. And the sooner the better.”

I knew she was right. It was just not a conversation I wanted to have with him.

“You have to be tactful about it, though,” Penny took a sip of water, “you can’t just go in there pissed off and start accusing him of cheating on you. You need to let him have the opportunity to tell you on his own.”

I nodded but that sounded like a pretty difficult task. If someone doesn’t want to admit to cheating, they’ll put off telling you for as long as possible. I would know…

Fast forward to later that evening and I found myself waiting for Mike to get home from work across the street from his building. When I saw his car pull up, I realized he wasn’t alone. That same woman was in the passenger side of his car and I wondered if he’d even been at work at all. He pulled into the underground garage and I stood on the sidewalk feeling a range of emotions from anger, rage, sadness, and shock. I stood there for a few moments and took some deep breaths. I knew I needed to be calm, that Penny was right and I couldn’t just start accusing him of anything. I reminded myself of that as I walked across the street and into his apartment building.

His face when he opened the door looked caught off guard.

“Hey,” I said trying to sound bright, “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by.”

“Oh…uh…” Mike’s eyes shifted as he stood in the opening of his front door.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“No…I just have some company over right now.”

I gave him a confused look and he sighed before stepping aside to let me in. The blonde woman was sitting on his couch. I looked at her and then to him and then back to her.

“Hi, I’m Faith.” I held my hand out as I approached her and she shook it after she stood up.

“I…should go.” She said grabbing her coat, “It was nice to meet you.”

She disappeared and Mike and I were left alone in his apartment.

“Um.” I said, “Who was that?”

“Faith, you should sit down.” He said quietly.

I hadn’t really believed that Mike had cheated on me until that moment. I wanted to believe everything was okay and that there was an explanation but it was such an odd exchange and he looked so…sad and nervous as he sat across the table from me. I stared at him angrily and that’s where I found myself this evening. The seconds ticked by and Mike wasn’t saying anything.

“Who is she?” I asked.

Mike rubbed his knees with the palms of his hands and refused to meet my eyes but he still didn’t say anything. I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Are…are you sleeping with her?” I asked quietly. The amount of hurt and betrayal in my voice surprised me but I couldn’t help it.

“What? No!”

“Then who is she, Mike? Why are you acting like this?”

“Faith…her name is Hailey. She’s…she’s my sister.”