“I fell in love with him.”
The room became completely silent.
“And him?”
Susan looked down at the floor.
“I thought he loved me too. But when I told him he had to choose, he ended everything that same day. He said he would never leave you.”
Was that supposed to comfort me?
It didn’t.
I asked,
“Then why did you stay in my life for another twelve years?”
For a long time, she didn’t answer.
Then she said,
“Because I had already lost my marriage. I had lost Michael. If I lost you too, I would have had nothing left. And yes, that was selfish.”
For the first time, she wasn’t making excuses.
Susan told me that over the years, the shame she carried whenever she looked at me had become heavier than the secret itself.
When Michael became sick, she had decided to tell me immediately.
