“Anyways, you and I, we had just come back from a trip to Victoria, where we’d spent the weekend walking along the wharf, and out to Ogden’s Point. We were still so new to each other, and we weren’t yet committed.”
Yeah, I remembered. We had booked separate rooms even as I wasn’t sure how I was feeling about him, other than having mad heat for the guy. It was crazy, but to me, the two of us staying in the same room just had a level of commitment to it I wasn’t ready for. Until after that weekend, when just beforeCanada Day, I announced over a quiet homemade dinner that I was ready to be his, and we had sex for the first time.
“That time between our weekend away and the one where we consummated our feelings, I had a quick stay in Campbell River.”
I listened with wide ears, but my heart was shutting down with each word he said.
“It was only one night, and it sounds terrible and horribly cliché, but it didn’t really mean anything. Our first weekend together meant way more to me.”
My instinct back then had been right; it was conflicted about Mitch because he was conflicted too. “Yet, you still slept with her.”
“Because I wasn’t sure about the direction we were headed. I wanted more between us. We’d been dating for three months, but it almost felt like you hadn’t moved me out of the friend zone.”
“I’d kissed you, and I can promise you, I’ve never kissed friends like the way I kissed you.”
“What I meant was, we had progressed. Our relationship was physical but limited to kissing and that was about it.”
“So you went and screwed another?”
“Not my finest moment.”
“You think?”
“But the weekend after when you made that wonderful dinner - the bar-be-que steak, baked potatoes, garden fresh salad and wine you’d made yourself, I knew I was yours. Jasmine didn’t matter.”
“Did you ever talk to her after?”
“No. She didn’t know where I was living as I never told her. She’d rambled on about the new job she’d accepted in Vancouver and how eager she was to leave Campbell River and make something out of herself.”
“How did she find you then?”
“A picture on the internet.”
I looked at him like I thought he’d lost his mind. How did a picture on the internet tell her anything she needed to know? I maybe wasn’t the sharpest tack in the drawer, but I wasn’t stupid either.
“Remember when the Prime Minister was here surfing, and the press was taking pictures?”
It was hard to forget. Everywhere we went, the press were taking photo ops. Our little town was full but not from tourists. The airport had been extra busy transporting people in on their private jets, and Eric had even flown the PM’s wife and a friend to another part of the island.
“My picture was in the newspaper.”
“Yeah, I know. It was a write up on the behind the scenes at our airport and how we’d…” Oh. I finally got it. “But that was a local write up.”
“Well, it went on the web.”
“And she Googled your name…” I waited for him to fill in the rest, but he didn’t need to.
A quick search would’ve provided all the information she needed After all, the story was in the Cheshire Bay Gazette. An idiot could’ve connected the dots.
“And now she’s here.” To ruin our lives.
“I didn’t even want kids.” It was said under his breath, but it may as well have been announced on a loudspeaker for the volume it spoke. “In reality though,” his voice gained a bit of strength, “I didn’t really cheat on you.”
“Yeah, you did.” I pulled myself up to my full height. “You so did.”
“We hadn’t committed.”
“But you wanted to. You told me months later that our weekend away, you hoped you’d get me in the sack, so yeah,in your mind you’d already committed. It just took me longer to catch up.” I stormed over to the door. “So now that you’ve admitted to cheating on me, and conceiving a child with another woman, can I go?”