The dent in our vows

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Dawn's Pov

My heart thundered heavily in my chest as I released slow pants.

It made sense.

It all made sense.

God, I wanted to believe this wasn't true. I wanted to believe that David wouldn't lie to me without having a valid reason to, I wanted to believe that he wouldn't hurt me like this. He said he wouldn't right? So he wouldn't.

But what if...

What if he was really cheating on me?

What if Paula had been right all along and he was actually... I held my chest and leaned over the desk, panting. Oh, God.

"Dawn." Paula rubbed my shoulders. Her brows pushed together. "Are you alright?"

How could I be?

How could anyone be alright in a situation as complicated and as confusing as this?

"If you need to sit." The Secretary chided, gesturing to the white couch resting against the glass floor-to-ceiling window reflecting the pleasant skyline filled with floating white clouds.

My throat closed up. "Thank you but we'll take our leave now." I breathed, finding my voice. My attention shifted to Paula. "Let's go."

"But we're—"

"Please." I pleaded, cutting her short.

She frowned as she weighed my mood. "Alright fine." She finally agreed.  "Let's go."

The walk to the car was silent, I didn't say a word. I didn't know what to say. My mind was racing in circles, trying to understand what the hell this meant.

"Dawn," Paula called the moment we reached the parking lot.

I kept walking. I didn't want to talk to her. If anything I was sure she thought of me as stupid and naive.

"Hey, Dawn." She nagged but I kept on walking until I reached my car and grabbed the door handle.

"Araceli, I'm talking to you."

Her words made me stop. I inhaled a shaky breath and turned. "Fine,  you win okay." I drawled out. "You were right all along, your instincts are top-notch. My husband lied to me and he's probably cheating on me." My lip quivered and my eyes blurred, making it difficult to see her. "You can go on with the big 'I told you so' and lecture me on how naive I was but make it quick because I need to leave and go home and..." 

"Oh, Dawn." She grabbed my hand and pulled me into her chest. "Geez please don't cry."

My helplessness and confusion converted into the tears that now slid down my cheeks. I wrapped my hand around her waist and buried my face into her shoulders. "I'm scared," I confessed, sobbing. "I don't want this to be true Paula... I love him so much, I don't know how I'll handle it. I don't—" I choked on my wails. "I don't—"

"Shh..." She held me tighter and soothed my back with pats. "I know I said he might be cheating but maybe he isn't okay. Maybe he has a reason for skipping work today." Her words were meant to soothe me but they didn't. I didn't feel better. My heart ached. All my tangled mind wanted was to see David and have him look me in the eyes when he told me the truth.