I Stepped Aside for Best Friend and My Husband, They Regretted It

Two painfully familiar faces turned toward me at the same time, both wearing expressions of remorse.

After a brief silence, Derek was the first to reach for my hand.

"Sophie, let me explain. I drank too much tonight. I got confused and thought she was you. Please... can you forgive me?"

Nicole's tears spilled instantly. She grabbed my other hand.

"Sophie, don't blame him. I was the one who drank too much and went to sleep in the wrong room..."

"I'm not lying to you! No one would joke about their... first time."

She glanced back at the drop of blood on the bedsheets, biting her lip hard, looking as though she were the one who'd been wronged.

"Sophie, can we just pretend nothing happened?"

The corner of Derek's mouth twitched.

He felt sorry for her.

My heart clenched in response.

Three hours ago, the three of us had been at a restaurant celebrating the bank loan approval. Our pharmaceutical company could finally get off the ground.

It was the dream all three of us had fought for over the past ten years.

Everyone had gotten hopelessly drunk.

I'd passed out on the bathroom floor after throwing up.

When I woke up, I found my husband Derek naked in bed with my best friend Nicole.

From the look of them, it hadn't been their first round that night.

The second-happiest day of my twenty-eight years had turned into hell.

The happiest had been the day I married Derek.

"No. I can't pretend."

I shook off both their hands, sat down at the table, and picked up a pen.

"And I can't forgive you."

Derek started toward me, still trying to argue, but then he saw the words I'd written across the top of the page: MARITAL SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.

His expression hardened instantly.

"Sophie Archer, we've been together for ten years. I've always treated you well. I've listened to you. I've done everything you asked."

He snatched the pen from my hand.

"We've eaten dollar-menu dinners, lived in run-down apartments, and worked three jobs at a time. When your appendix surgery went wrong and you hemorrhaged, I donated more than a pint of blood! Two years ago, when your fever wouldn't break and the blizzard shut down every cab in town, Nicole carried you all the way to the ER. She damaged her ankle so badly it still aches whenever it rains!"

"Does everything the three of us survived together mean less than one mistake?"