You Can't Have It Both Ways

The crash of the glass against the table cut through the room, and the noise around us died instantly.

"What a fun challenge. Why not let me join in?"

My voice stayed even, but Julian Speck caught the edge under it right away and moved to smooth things over.

"Don't be mad, honey. Laura's always been a wild one. She's just messing around with me.

"She's basically one of the guys. You don't need to think of her as a woman."

My hand curled into a fist under the table.

Not a woman, so it didn't matter if she got looked at, kissed, touched. That was the game the two of them played, the one nobody ever said out loud.

I'd fought about it before, made a scene about it before, and every time he'd shut me down with the same line: she's basically one of the guys. As if pushing back any harder just meant I was petty and couldn't take a joke.

Laura pouted. "Come on, Betty, you're really going to be bothered by that? Julian and I are basically sworn bros for life. Forget a kiss or a touch, we used to bathe together as kids."

Julian sighed and clapped a hand over her mouth. "Would you stop saying things like that out loud?"

Then he turned to me, smiling warmly. "You know how she is; she says whatever comes to mind. Don't take it seriously."

My eyelashes trembled, but I forced my spine straight. "Since it's a challenge, why not have the rest of the guys take a turn too? Spread the love around."

Laura froze. Before she could say anything, Jennifer spoke up first, her voice sharp with accusation. "Betty, that's too far. Do you really think it's funny to humiliate a girl like that?"

Bobby frowned at me too, clearly disapproving. "If you've got a problem, take it out on us. Laura didn't do anything wrong."

Something twisted under my sternum until it hurt to breathe. I wanted to ask them outright, if she's innocent, does that make it fine to humiliate me? But my throat closed up, and no sound came out.

I looked up at the two of them standing in front of me.

One was my best friend who'd once thrown herself between me and an angry patient's family. The other was my own younger brother, the one who'd nearly picked up a knife the day he found out someone had wronged me.

And now, for the sake of an outsider, they were treating me like an enemy.

My eyes burned, and something bitter settled in my chest, like a fist closing around it.

Before I could open my mouth, Charles suddenly rushed at me. "Bad Mommy! You're bullying Laura! I don't want you. Go away, just go away!"

He clenched his little fists and slammed them into my stomach with everything he had.

A child's strength wasn't much, but the pain went straight through me.

This was the child I'd carried for ten months and nearly died delivering. When he was small, he used to wrap his arms around my head and promise, in that lisping little voice, that he'd protect me when he grew up.

When had that started to change?

Maybe it was the time I wouldn't let him have candy because of his cavities, and Laura had snuck him off for cake instead. Or maybe it was the time I'd signed him up for an enrichment class, only for Julian and Laura to whisk him off to an amusement park halfway through.

I couldn't even name the feeling in my chest, just the sense of something sincere being trampled over and over.

I stood up and shoved the door open with the last of my strength.

The door swung shut behind me. I slid down against the wall in the hallway, and the tears I'd been holding back finally broke free.

Inside, the laughter started up again. One of Julian's friends teased him. "Come on, man, aren't you going to go chase down your wife and smooth things over?"

Julian's voice was careless. "No need. She'll cool off and come back on her own."

Jennifer chimed in too. "Betty doesn't have anywhere else to go. At most she'll take a walk around the block."

Bobby added, "Don't worry, there's still Charles. Betty won't stay mad long, not with him here."

My whole body shook, and I couldn't stop it. I wiped the tears from my face and pulled out my phone.

I typed out a message to my attorney. [Jack, could you draft me a divorce agreement?]