Dear Bridget, I Want You(74)
I drove home in a daze, barely remembering how I had gotten there.
Should I text him?
I honestly didn’t know what to do. Deciding to pour myself that wine, I started to gulp it down unusually fast. I mindlessly made my way down to the basement and put in a load of laundry, not even paying attention to whether I had mixed whites with colors.
A text came in, interrupting the monotony. It was from Simon.
Simon: I love you so much.
That was so random, that it came in this moment as if he could sense my strife. Tears started to fall. What if Ginny was wrong, and I ended up accusing him of something he didn’t do? I valued the trust that he and I’d developed in our relationship. Even questioning him about something like this would damage that, regardless of what actually happened.
My brain was going a mile a minute. If I could only look in his eyes, maybe I would find the answer. He wouldn’t be off his shift until six tomorrow morning. I felt like I was going to burst if I didn’t talk to him soon.
Bridget: Can you wake me when you get home in the morning? I really need to talk to you about something.
The phone rang almost immediately. Simon sounded concerned. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m fine, physically. But there’s something I need to talk to you about. It’s important. So please just wake me if I’m not up.”
As much as I tried to hide my freaking out, he knew from my tone. “What’s going on, Bridget?”
“I’d rather not talk about it on the phone.”
I could hear the worry in his voice. “Let me see if I can get someone to cover me. Stay where you are. Don’t go anywhere, okay?”
“Alright.”
About a half-hour later, Simon sent me another text.
Simon: Managed to get Dr. Lowry to fill in for me through the rest of the night. I’ll have to cover for him tomorrow though. Just got in the car. On my way. Be home soon.
Abandoning my laundry, I made my way back upstairs and stayed huddled on the couch while I waited for him.
Fifteen minutes. He couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes away. I felt like I had to cherish these last minutes of hope as scary as they were. Because if it turned out that he lied to me, I might not be able to ever fully trust him again.
When the door opened, I didn’t move. Simon looked like he’d literally run home from Providence. Out of breath and with his hair mussed up, he seemed more frazzled than I’d ever seen him.
“You need to tell me what’s going on.”
I came right out with it.
“Were you with a woman today at a café on the East Side?”
He looked like my words had knocked even more wind out of him.
“How did you know that?”
“So, you were?”
“Answer me. How did you know that?”
“Ginnifer saw you.” I was starting to cry. “Who is she?”
“She’s the plaintiff in the lawsuit.”
My pulse slowed a little. It hadn’t occurred to me that the meeting might have had something to do with the deposition. But still, why hadn’t he mentioned it to me, then? He’d specifically said he was catching up on rest and never uttered a single word about a meeting with a woman.
Wiping my nose with my sleeve, I said, “You lied to me. You said you were home all afternoon.”
Simon’s blue eyes darkened in a way I’d never observed before. It felt like my entire world was closing in on me as he knelt down onto his knees in front of the couch and placed both of his hands on my shoulders.
He looked deeply into my eyes when he said, “First off, I need to tell you that there’s absolutely nothing going on between me and the woman in the café. Her name is Gina Delmonico, and it was the first time I’d ever spoken directly to her.”
My chest grew heavier. “Gina…Gina Delmonico? The woman who Ben worked with? The one who was in the car when he…when he died?”
Simon nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m confused. Why were you with her? What’s going on, Simon?”
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before speaking. “What I’m about to tell you is probably the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to do in my entire life.” When he noticed my hand shaking, he said, “Please don’t be scared. We’re fine. We’re so good, my love. I love you so much. This doesn’t have anything to do with us, but it has to do with Ben.”
“Ben? What about Ben?”
“In the course of the deposition, I realized that the car accident we were discussing was Ben’s accident. I was apparently working the ER at Warwick Hospital the exact night he was killed. The woman who is suing the hospital for her injuries is Gina Delmonico, Ben’s passenger. We’ve never spoken about his accident in detail. I hadn’t even realized that there was someone in the car with him.”