His Runaway Wife [UNEDITED]

27. "Uh-your face is familiar."

I walked down the street after leaving the restaurant. I wasn't that hungry but it was almost noon and all I had had for breakfast were a few sips of the orange juice. So I went into a café a few doors down from the restaurant where I had met with Marianne.

I was still thinking about the conversation I had had with her. Her words kept repeating over and over in my head. My son is not going to choose you over me. I am his mother. Karen was perfect for Damian. She still is.

It was so hard to not let her mean words hurt me. All these years, I've wondered what I did to make her hate me so much. Now, I understood that I did nothing wrong. It wasn't me. It was all her. Sometimes people were just hateful and that was their own personal problem. The worst part was that she knew what she was doing and she didn't care. I was done trying to make peace with Marianne. I wasn't going to keep wasting my time with her. So I forced her out of my head.

There weren't many people at the café and I took a seat after ordering a sandwich with a small broccoli soup.

As I had lunch, I thought about calling Damian to let him know I was here. I kind of wanted it to be a surprise. Then again we hadn't spoken in weeks so maybe it wouldn't be the kind of surprise I thought it would be. Plus, we didn't have a good history with surprises which was mostly my fault considering I had gotten mad at him for showing up unannounced in Nevada.

I took out my phone and clicked on his contact number. I found myself feeling nervous as the dial tone rang in my ear. It went to voicemail. He was probably busy with patients.

Well, he can't say I didn't try.

Suddenly eager to see him, I finished up my lunch and got ready to leave after calling to ask for a taxi.
As I walked out into the sunny afternoon, something across the street caught my eye. It was mostly the color. Pink. The same color Marianne had been wearing earlier. It belonged to a woman standing across the street in the arms of a man. The man had his back to me.

As I walked to the curb where the taxi was waiting for me, I realized that it wasn't just the color. It was the same blouse. Then I realized that it wasn't a coincidence because the woman across the street was Marianne.

Shock paralyzed my body as I realized that it was Marianne in the arms of another man. They were making out in the middle of the street like there was no tomorrow.

I couldn't believe it.

They pulled apart after a moment and then Marianne's eyes met mine. She was across the street but I could see the shock and fear clear on her face as she saw me. The man suddenly turned around and he looked around as if trying to figure out what Marianne was so horrified at. He was young. Probably around Aaron's age. Young and handsome.

I forced myself to look down and open the door. I got in the taxi and gave him the address to Damian's clinic. I looked straight ahead as the taxi drove by down the street.

I couldn't believe what I had just seen.

Marianne kissing a man much younger than her. She had a dirty little secret and I had caught her in the act.
It was obvious Aaron and Damian didn't know-it was all clear in the fear on her face when she saw me.

I didn't give a damn about Marianne's personal life-unlike her, I stayed out of other people's relationships, but it made me angry that she judged and hated me for nothing, acting like she was the perfect woman when she was hooking up with a man that could be her son and hiding that from her sons.

Wow. The audacity. She lived her life making people believe she was a woman of morals and education and judging people who weren't like her when that wasn't even the real her.