My Husband’s Best Friend Toasted To Me As “The Temporary One” At Our 3rd Anniversary Dinner. I Just Found The “Future Plans” Folder For His Ex In His Locked Desk. How Do I Get My Revenge?

Moving On

6 weeks after the anniversary dinner, I went back to work full-time. My co-workers welcomed me back without making a big deal about my absence. Saki brought me coffee every morning in my favorite mug and checked in with quick texts throughout the day without being obvious about it. People asked how I was doing, but they didn’t push when I gave short answers.

Having somewhere to go every day and tasks to focus on helped more than I expected. Work gave me structure and purpose when everything else in my life felt uncertain. I threw myself into projects and volunteered for extra assignments because staying busy kept me from thinking too much about David and Natalie and what they might be doing now that she was back in Dallas.

I was having dinner with my sister at a restaurant downtown when I saw David sitting alone at a table near the window. He looked startled when he noticed me, and I felt my whole body tense up. My sister saw him too and squeezed my hand under the table. He stood up like he might come over, but I looked away and focused on my menu.

When the waiter came to take our order, I introduced David to my sister as my ex-husband, which was the first time I’d said those words out loud. They felt strange in my mouth but also right. He wasn’t my husband anymore. He was someone I used to be married to, and that was a completely different thing.

David sat back down at his table and didn’t try to approach us again. After I went to the bathroom, my sister told me that David had tried to come over to our table but she’d stopped him. She said she told him to leave me alone and let me enjoy my dinner in peace. She said he looked like he wanted to say something important but couldn’t find the right words. I was grateful I didn’t have to deal with whatever speech he was preparing. I didn’t want to hear his excuses or explanations or apologies. I just wanted to eat dinner with my sister and not think about him at all.

7 weeks after everything fell apart, David’s mother called and asked if we could have dinner one last time. I almost said no, but something in her voice made me agree. We met at a quiet restaurant on the other side of town where we wouldn’t run into anyone we knew. She looked older than I remembered and tired in a way that had nothing to do with lack of sleep.

She told me David and Natalie weren’t together. Natalie was actually dating someone she met at her new office, and she’d made it clear to David that she wasn’t interested in rekindling their relationship. David apparently didn’t take the news well and had been calling his mother constantly looking for sympathy she wasn’t willing to give.

David’s mother said she told him he destroyed a good marriage chasing a fantasy and now he had to live with the consequences. She said she should have spoken up sooner and told him to appreciate what he had instead of pining for what he lost. She apologized again for not defending me at the anniversary dinner and for not calling David out on his behavior over the past 3 years. She said she hoped I would find someone who appreciated me and treated me like I deserved to be treated. We hugged goodbye in the parking lot, and I felt closure with at least one member of David’s family. She wasn’t responsible for David’s choices, but her acknowledgement that he was wrong meant something.

The divorce papers arrived in the mail 8 weeks after the anniversary dinner that destroyed my marriage. I sat on my couch holding the envelope for a long time before I opened it. The official documents said I was no longer married to David. I was no longer Jennifer who was married to David. I was just Jennifer, and I needed to figure out who that was.