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Cheryl looks like shit. She’s ugly crying up a storm and though it would have given me indescribable pleasure to hear about, in person it’s too pathetic to hate. Unbelievably I feel a stab of sympathy for her. Brent had once made me cry in exactly the same way.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
My former best friend’s eyes flash suspiciously from behind the waterworks. She’s trying and failing to stop crying, and she turns away from me when she realizes it’s not going to stop.
“Like you care,” she says. “Leave me alone.”
There’s a door in the hallway and I push it open experimentally. Kara and Dalton must be in another room further down as this one is empty. I tap Cheryl on the shoulder and nod at the room when she glares at me.
“Come on,” I say.
“No way,” she spits back. “I’m not being alone with you. You’ll probably try to kill me.”
I snort. “If I wanted to kill you, I’d kill you and Brent at the same time and stage it like a murder-suicide. Definitely not on a crowded plane with so many witnesses.”
She stares at me.
“Yes, I’ve thought about it. Sue me,” I say. “Be happy it’s stayed in my fantasies. Now get in this fucking room and tell me what the problem is before I lose my sympathy.”
“I don’t want your sympathy,” she snaps.
“Yeah, you do,” I say. “Because I know you better than anyone, and I also know exactly what you’re going through right now. He cheated on you, didn’t he?”
Cheryl’s eyes are unable to meet mine. Instead, after a pause, she walks slowly into the room. I follow and close the door behind us.
“I suppose you want to gloat,” she says sullenly.
“Just tell me what happened.”
After a beat, she whispers, “I walked in on him with someone back at the hotel.”
She doesn’t continue and I wait.
“That’s pretty much it,” she says at my silence.
“There’s always more to it than that,” I say softly.
For the first time Cheryl meets my eyes and there isn’t anger or suspicion behind her bright blue eyes, just pain and sorrow. “It isn’t the first time I’ve caught him,” she says. “He promised me it wouldn’t happen again.”
“How many women have you caught him with?” I ask, stunned. It’s only been a couple months since they ran off together.
“Two others,” she says.
“That you know about,” I finish for her.
She nods miserably. “I suppose I deserve it.”
I don’t mince words. Nobody’s that nice. “Yeah,” I say. “You kinda do.”
“I thought you weren’t going to throw it in my face,” she says.
“What? You want me to deny it?” I ask. “What did you expect me to say to that? ‘Poor baby, how can people be so mean?’ Fine, nobody deserves to get cheated on, but maybe some people do need to experience it first hand to know just how shitty it is to do to another person.”
“I knew it was shitty,” Cheryl says, anger flashing in her eyes. “Why do you think I did it?”
For the first time I’m speechless. Finally I manage to get out, “What?”
“You think it was easy being best friends with you?” Cheryl cries. “Straight A’s all through college. Top pick at your ad agency. The most handsome, richest guy at school to get engaged to. How the hell do you think I felt? Every single one of my boyfriends was a complete loser!”
