Chapter Two
“He’s cheating on me,” Kate said plainly, not even tearing her gaze from the playground they had let the kids loose on a few minutes before.
“What?” Natalie turned to face Kate. They were perched on a picnic table right outside the fence, keeping a watchful eye on the little Hansons who were now dominating the swings and slide. Penny shrieked with delight as Ezra chased her around, creating a spontaneous game of tag. Kate held Junia tightly on her lap, the baby of the group, who was still too little to go play with her cousins.
“Yep. It’s not even a question. I had been suspecting it for a little while but now I know for sure.”
“How? How did you find out?”
“Okay I don’t have like…hard evidence.”
“Kate…”
“Just…let me tell you, okay? Please?”
“Fine, go ahead.”
“We had a huge fight last night. Like, monumental.”
“You fight all the time.”
“Right but this one was worse. And he fought back…hard. It was almost scary, Nat. Anyway, you know we always fight and then we have make-up sex and then we just like…keep living the next day. And, I’ve been worried about him for a while now, he seems so distant and I know stuff at the studio is tense. So…I really made an effort last night! I put on sexy underwear and I was really going for it but…nothing.”
“What do you mean nothing?”
“Nothing! He couldn’t get it up!”
“Kate, that doesn’t mean he’s cheating on you.”
“I can just tell, Nat! I know he is. He’s been distant before but never this distant.”
“I don’t buy it.”
“Well fine, don’t buy it! I just…I hate this! Sorry, I’m complaining again. I hate admitting that nothing is working. But literally, nothing is working.”
“Maybe you should go to counselling…” Natalie suggested, before both women burst into laughter at the thought of Zac agreeing to do something like that. He would never.
“Don’t you ever feel like Taylor is distant? Or pulling away?”
“Um…every day of my life. I always go to bed and he goes down to his office for a few hours. Because, you know, we don’t spend enough time apart as it is.”
“That’s awful. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. Whatever. He has to do what he has to do, ya know?”
“I guess.”
Natalie couldn’t help but notice that the distance between herself and Taylor was growing wider and wider. She wanted to chalk it up to this being their version of normal, but she knew it was more than that. Weeks passed and she saw him less and less. The band went on tour and came back, and nothing was different even when he was home. He would lock himself in his office and only talk to her when it was necessary. One night she came downstairs to check on him, and found the door closed. She could hear him crying behind it. Crying. She rushed back upstairs, afraid of getting caught.
One night, Taylor was at the studio and had sent a text saying he wasn’t going to be home any time soon. Natalie sighed and looked around the living room hopelessly, already bored out of her mind now that the kids were in bed. She padded to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. She settled herself on the couch and flipped on the TV.
Talking to Kate about Zac and their issues made her feel good. It made her feel like she was making a difference in someone’s life, when she so often felt alone and trapped in the little bubble of her home. She missed the days that she and her best friend would stay up too late on school nights pretending to do homework when really they were gossipping about boys. She smiled at the memory. Natalie fell for Taylor so hard and so fast that she knew within a day that there was no coming back from it. Even before he called her and even before they first held hands, she knew that he was it for her. She remembered fiercely guarding their relationship during its early stages, only gushing to Kate even though she wanted to announce to the entire school that she was Taylor Hanson’s girlfriend. Finally, the day came when he took her to her school dance, and she floated around the gymnasium, feeling everyone’s wide eyes and disbelieving stares. She couldn’t even imagine the kind of hurt she would have gone through if he had broken up with her. She probably would have taken to her bed for weeks, letting the tears spill down her face. She probably would have stopped washing her hair or taking phone calls. She was that far gone. But he didn’t break up with her. He married her. And now, she felt lonelier than ever.
Maybe he’s cheating on me too, she thought, snorting quietly into her wine glass. A laugh started in her throat and before she knew it she was cracking up
“I wouldn’t even care at this point!!” She said out loud, laughing even more when the dog looked at her with confusion.
She wiped away a tear and her gaze landed on Taylor’s laptop, which he had apparently left on the coffee table before scurrying off to the studio. That’s weird, she thought, He never leaves that. She felt emboldened by the glass of wine she had drained and pulled the computer onto her lap, throwing it open and hoping it wasn’t password protected. The screen sprung to life and she heaved a sigh of relief that she didn’t have to guess any passwords. She clicked around a bit and opened the browser to find a couple tabs that Taylor hadn’t closed out of. One was a chat window, which she found a bit odd but hey, it could be worse. She could find porn open or something.
In any other circumstance she would have respected her husband’s privacy. She would have closed the laptop and just left it alone. But she had wine in her belly and a bad case of nostalgia and she couldn’t help herself. She scanned the conversation quickly. This person was calling him Jordan. This person’s name was Sam. This person…
She slammed the laptop closed.
He was cheating on her.
With a man.