Driving to the hospital, I didn’t know how I was going to make it through my long shift. I wouldn’t have the opportunity to address any of this with Bridget until our mutual day off this weekend. While the time apart would allow me to gather my thoughts, I wasn’t sure there was any way to do this without shattering her world.
Brendan had tomorrow off because of a professional day at school, so I dropped him off at his grandmother’s house for a sleepover. I planned to pick him up on Saturday afternoon.
Driving back from Ben’s mother’s place, I found myself dreading returning home to an empty house. Even though I had loads of laundry to do and plenty of housework to occupy my time, I was really missing Simon tonight. I hated when we ended up on opposite shifts like this. He’d be working all through the night.
It was a bizarre week to say the least with his unexpectedly getting called into the deposition and then his drunken night away. Simon never lost control like that, and I guess it was a matter of time before stress caught up with him.
Making matters worse, he hadn’t nailed down a permanent position here yet, so he was facing unemployment on top of everything. He had some discussions with the management at Memorial about their taking him on permanently, but no one had been able to give him any guarantees yet.
So, I couldn’t say I blamed him when he let loose at the bar the other night.
I’d just pulled off the highway when my phone rang. Quickly glancing at the screen, I realized it was Ginnifer, one of the nurses at the hospital. She was the only co-worker I’d really confided in since Simon publicly announced our relationship.
It was odd for her to be calling me outside of work, though. It made me wonder if I’d left something behind.
“Hey, Ginny. What’s up?”
“Where are you?”
“I just dropped Brendan off down in North Kingstown. Headed home to crack open a bottle of wine and do laundry. Exciting night.” I chuckled. “What’s up?”
“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.