Corey
“We have been friends since we began school. Haven’t we?”
“It seems like it might have been before that. Didn’t we go to the same daycare?”
“Mom stayed home with me until kindergarten began.”
“Oh,” Peter thought about it for a moment and took a bite of his salad. “What’s up? Why are we going back to the beginning today? It usually happens when you want to discuss something serious.”
“You nailed it.” Corey stared at Peter’s salad for a minute before lifting his gaze to make eye contact. “You know I love Melissa, but I love you more.”
“Okay.”
“No easy way to tell you. Your wife, Melissa, is cheating on you.”
Peter sat up straight in his chair and pushed it back, away from the table. He looked at Corey and reminded himself that this was his lifelong friend. He took a deep breath and slumped forward. He was hesitant to ask.
“Why do you think that?”
Corey held up his device. He showed Peter a series of photos that he took of Melissa flirting with a man at a hotel. While Melissa was smiling at and touching a handsome man in the photos, Peter relaxed.
“That’s her boss.” Peter smiled at Corey. “Fernando. No need for concern.”
“I wasn’t concerned initially.”
Peter’s smile pressed tightly into a straight line. He softly repeated one word, “initially”.
Corey continued, “You know I’m a commercial real estate agent.”
“Look we’re far beyond the need to review when our friendship began or to share our professions. Say what you’ve got to say.”
Corey open a second photo file on his smart phone and shared another series of photographs. He provided context as he scrolled through numerous photos, obviously taken on different days in front of different hotel rooms. Some images included Melissa and Fernando kissing.
“I was assessing a boutique hotel for refinancing. I saw them enter a room. Over the course of my work there, I saw and photographed them together more than once.”
Peter stood up quickly. He took out his wallet and threw a Benjamin onto the table.
Corey looked up from his seated position. His face reflected concern that he had upset his best friend. “I wanted to be certain before I brought it to your attention.”
Peter spoke loudly with clarity, only slight restraint from an angry shout. “I appreciate that, but this is my wife and my life. Please stay out of it.”
“Done.” Corey put his smart device with the photos in his pocket. “If you had this information about my wife, I would want to know. I already sent the photos to you.”
“Ugh. That’s you. Always looking for an angle.” Peter walked away from the table without looking back at Corey.
Melissa
Peter was calm when he spoke with Melissa. He sought reassurance not confirmation. He committed to this woman for life and believed that she likewise committed to fidelity with him.
“So, someone thought they saw you with Fernando at the boutique hotel.”
“You know,” Melissa turned away from Peter and took a bottle of wine from the cupboard as she spoke. “I thought I saw Corey there. He was with a woman who isn’t his wife.”
“He was assessing the property for refinancing.”
“I don’t know about whether he examined the property, but his hands were certainly evaluating his companion.”
Peter took a deep breath. Melissa was deflecting, but Corey perhaps was not entirely honest with him. The two people closest to him. Disappointed in both, he assumed the worst.
“Were you and Corey ever at the inn together?”
Melissa burst into laughter. She was glad that her deflection was working. “No. Never. I mean your best man seems like a good friend to you, but no. There could never be anything between the two of us.”
“I want our marriage to work,” Peter looked into Melissa’s eyes. “If there’s a problem, I want to fix it.”
Melissa was quick to smile at him. “Nothing to fix. Except for a snack. I think I’d like a little charcuterie board with my wine. You? Salami? Cheese? Crackers?”
Peter had lingering doubts, but his wife just confirmed there was no problem. He would let the photos he shared rest in her conscience for a day or two. “Yes, please. Thank you for fixing it.”
After a few minutes of silently eating snacks and sipping wine, Peter picked up the remote control. “Would you mind if I turned on the news?”
“Please do.”
Corey
Corey was a little surprised when Peter confirmed their weekly lunch date. He hoped that his friendship wasn’t changed, but he knew Peter was upset after the revelation of infidelity that he shared over the previous week’s lunch.
Their lunchtime banter started with political news. Then they held a more in-depth discussion about the one actress whom they both lusted for throughout their teen years. She announced she was divorcing her third husband. The paparazzi photographed her cavorting in a foreign resort with the fourth man in her life.
“Are you and Melissa okay?” Corey ventured the question as they waited for the check.
“When were you going to tell me?” Peter spoke firmly.
“Tell you?” Corey’s eyes shifted from side to side as he considered which action he might have intentionally held back from his best friend.
“Well, Melissa saw you as well. She mentioned you were assessing another woman, who was not your wife, Pen. The woman was much younger. Someone more fit and with a youthful glow.”
Corey’s expression turned to shocked silence.
Peter pushed onward, “You had photos from more than one visit to the boutique hotel. Do they have an adultery special one day a week?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“That’s what Melissa told me too. It took her a day but she decided to quit her job. No more Fernando. We’re going into counseling to clarify her needs.”
“Oh. That’s good news. Right?”
“Do you have the same respect for Pen? Will you confess to her and make your marriage work?”
“I’m not you.” Corey’s mind raced with Peter’s confrontation regarding his wife. “You’ve said your piece. Please stay out of it.”
“This conversation isn’t over.” Peter paid the bill.
Corey stood up to leave. Peter grabbed his wrist.
“I want to thank you for pointing out what Melissa was doing. In a short week, we’ve already taken steps to affirm our marriage. I think you owe the same effort to Pen.”
Corey pulled his wrist out of Peter’s grasp and snapped, “I’m not you.”
Mother
Peter called his mother when he returned to the office. He expressed his disappointment not just in Melissa but also in Corey.
“How did you and Dad do it?”
“Oh, Petey, I’m not sure we did do it. Sure we stayed in together in physical proximity, but we left each other emotionally when you and your sister were still in grade school.”
“Mom. Really?”
“I don’t want to destroy your illusion of either your father or of me.”
“I don’t understand.”
Petey heard his mother take a deep breath on the other end of the call.
He asked her, “Would you turn on your camera so I can see you.”
“No. You don’t need to see my tears.”
“I didn’t want to make you cry.”
“You didn’t.”
“Well, Dad passed more than a year ago. I should not have mentioned him.”
“Why not?” Petey’s mother snapped. “You have no idea of what you are talking about.”
“Then tell me, I’m asking for advice but I also want to be here for you.”
“You’ve got to make a decision. Melissa didn’t confess to you until you confronted her. She will cheat again. That little shit Corey withheld things he should have shared immediately with his best friend. It’s not the first time. He’s been a liar since he was a toddler. He will betray you again.”
“Mom. That’s harsh. What’s the decision that you think I must make?”
“Petey, you’re an adult. You should know by now that this world is a lie. If you want some peace and contentment, you must decide how much you want to deceive yourself.”
“Oh. Mom. It’s been a hard year for you. I should have been there more often for you.”
She pushed forward, “You know when I sat down with the lawyer who was the executor of the estate and Dad’s accountant.”
“Yes.”
“Well, I didn’t tell you. Your father had a second family for nearly your entire lifetime. Another woman. Two other children. All kept secret from you, your sister, and from me. I had suspicions but I chose to ignore the signs.”
“They weren’t at the funeral.”
“No,” Peter’s mother explained. “I didn’t reach out to them for several weeks. I hoped she would figure it out when he wasn’t returning her calls.”
“I’m not sure what this means for me right now.”
“Petey. I love you. Your father loved you. But you’ll be happier if you decide what you choose to ignore and what you can’t let pass. Infidelity. Lying by omission. Perhaps you need a new wife and a better friend. Perhaps you are content with the way things are.”
“I see what you are saying.”
“I’m saying, don’t be like your mother! Don’t settle! You deserve better.”
Peter remained silent on the line as his mother took several deep breaths. When she returned to normal breathing Peter asked, “Do you want me to visit you?”
“Why do you want to visit me? I also deceived you for decades. Perhaps you need a better mother.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I only get one biological mother.” They both chuckled breaking the tense moment. Peter formulated a quick plan. “Let me check with Melissa. She just quit her job, so there shouldn’t be any reason not to visit you this weekend.”
“Okay. Goodbye.” The elderly woman abruptly hung up the phone before her boy Petey could say anything else.
In less than two weeks, everything Peter believed about his closest relationships collapsed. He was uncertain about what the next day would bring. He considered the times that both his wife and his best friend had made poor choices in the past. He realized that his relationships were sustained based on his positive efforts to sustain them. Had he been lying to himself even about his own parents. Perhaps his mother was right. He deserved better. Relationships with less deception.