Proved Me Wrong

Working late. Don’t wait up. XX.

Haley read the text from her husband again, hoping that maybe the words would change if she looked at them long enough. After another ten minutes, she sets her phone down on the couch next to her and looks around her empty house, the loneliness settling in as she realizes she will go to sleep alone tonight. Again.

She didn’t know when everything started to shift. Was it because of the baby? Was Jake not attracted to her anymore because of the way pregnancy contorted her body? Her hands ran absentmindedly over her stomach where deep purple stretchmarks marred her previously unmarked skin. The pregnancy, their first, was hard on her and her body. The morning sickness lasted all day and continued throughout the entirety of the nine months, the pregnancy weight wouldn’t go away even though it’s been 8 months since Evan was born, and her breasts were two sizes bigger and constantly aching. Haley knew this was all normal, remembered the complaints of her friends with children, but she didn’t know if Jake had understood what a baby would mean for them.

Her phone beeped again and she rushed to grab it, hoping that maybe, just maybe, it was Jake changing his mind.

Is he home?

The text message was from Julie. She and Hannah were the only ones aware of Haley’s suspicions. A reply came not even a second after Haley confirmed Jake would be gone.

I’m coming over.

Haley sighed and put her phone back down, defeated. There was no dissuading Julie, no matter how much Haley wanted to spend the evening alone, drinking the bottle of wine she opened with dinner and watching her son sleep in the living room crib. She didn’t want to hear about all the ways Jake would be cheating, who he would possibly be cheating with, or why, which is all Julie would want to discuss. Ever since her boyfriend, who she was with for two years, got another woman pregnant while they were together, Julie has been increasingly against all men. She didn’t even seem surprised or try to offer words of reason when Haley finally came clean about her fears. All she said was, “it was bound to happen.”

It was bound to happen? Who says that to their best friend when their world is so obviously falling apart? Julie.

Knocks sounded on the front door before Haley heard it open and heels click on the wood floor of the hallway. Two seconds later, Julie sauntered in holding two pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream with Hannah hot on her heels with a tub of cookie dough.

“I brought reinforcements,” She said, setting the ice cream on the coffee table in front of Haley and immediately walking to the kitchen for spoons.

“What did he last google?” Julie asked, turning to her expectantly.

Haley sputtered. “Excuse me? How would I know?”

“Are you telling me that you have had suspicion that Jake has been cheating on you for the past two months and you have not, not once, snooped through his stuff?”

Hannah snorted. “You’re a better woman that I am.”

“Well, I mean, I tried to look through his phone while he was in the shower once, but all it showed was text messages from his job and from other clients.” Haley looked at Julie who had stood up and started making her way towards Jake’s home office. “Jules! What are you doing!”

Haley hurried off the couch after her, feeling Hannah following.

“I’m going to see if I can figure out where he is tonight. When I caught Matt, it was because the dumbass didn’t clear his search history.”

Why didn’t I think of that? The thought crossed her mind before she could control it. She wasn’t that girl, the one who looked through her man’s stuff, no matter what it looked like he was doing. She had never done it before and she didn’t want to start doing it now. That one time with the phone made her feel horrible, especially after reading what Jake had to deal with on a daily basis at work. His boss ordered him around non-stop, and when something wasn’t to his liking, Jake always got an earful. She didn’t want him to feel that way when he got home too.

Before she could open her mouth to argue anymore, Julie sits in the oversized desk chair and brings up the desktop on the computer.

“No passcode. Gutsy,” She murmurs, bringing up the search engine and looking through the past history.

Hannah shoots Haley a soft smile as she walks around to look over Julie’s shoulder. “That’s a good thing. Means he doesn’t feel that he has to hide something.”

“Or he knows that Haley wouldn’t look.”

Haley rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. She bites her lip, anxiously staring at the screen, hoping not to see anything.

She isn’t that lucky.

“The Meadows?” Julie points to the screen, where the homepage of a restaurant pops up showing the hours.

“Oh!” Hannah exclaimed excitedly. “It’s a new place downtown! I’ve wanted to go since it opened! It’s supposed to really good and so roman-“ She cuts off abruptly and jerks her eyes to mine. “Oh.”

Haley stared hard at the surface of the desk, hating the way tears immediately started to gather in her eyes at even the slightest indication of her husband’s infidelity. She didn’t like it. She wanted to be able to not freak out until she had absolute proof. To trust him until the last possible second.

“We should go.”

Haley snapped her head to Hannah, her mouth falling open. “Huh?”

Hannah shrugged sheepishly. “Why not? If he’s there, you have the answers to your questions. If he’s not, then-“ She shrugged again. “Either way, you get something out of it.”

Haley saw Julie’s lips lift in a smile out of the corner of her eye. She turned to her. “No. We are not going to go spy on my husband.”

“Why not? It worked with Matt.”

“Matt was a douche who told you where he was going to be. Which was a public place where we could spy while not being seen.” Haley pointed to the computer. “That is a restaurant. An expensive looking restaurant. We aren’t going to be able to just go in there and have him not see us.”

Julie exited out of the computer and stood up to look at me better. “We can, and we will.”

“Julie, no. I am not doing this.”

***

Hannah squeezed Haley’s hand as the three of them walked into the restaurant, Evan clutched tightly to Haley’s chest. The waiting room was bustling with couples waiting for a table, waitresses ran from the kitchen to the tables they were manning, and laughter sounded from the main dining room. Haley gulped, eyeing the hostess who kept her bent over the map of tables.

Seeing that the woman wasn’t going to acknowledge them coming in, Julie turned around and grinned at them, a sparkle of mischief in her eyes. She reached back and grabbed Hannah’s hand, dragging her and Haley past the front table and into the dining room. The three girls ducked their heads and hid their face behind veils of hair and rushed to an empty booth along the far wall that still had the remnants of a meal on it.

Haley let the breath she was holding, nervously bouncing Evan on her lap and glancing around the room to make sure no one was focused on them. She wasn’t able to find a last-minute sitter, and the only family that was near enough to watch him was Jake’s mom. She wasn’t going to ask her to watch the baby this late at night so that a spy mission could help determine whether or not her son was a lying, cheating –

“There,” Hannah whispered, dragging her arm up to point a perfectly manicured nail to a table in the middle of the room. Haley looked where she had mentioned and found that she was holding her breath again.

At a table that was barely big enough to fit two people comfortable, Jake was leaning over a plate of pasta, talking quietly to a young blonde in a tight red dress. Jake was still wearing his work suit that he left the house in early that morning, his briefcase leaning up against one of the legs of his chair.
Haley snapped her head to Julie when she heard her friend make an amused sound in her throat.

“What is your deal?”

Julie scrunched her face in confusion. “My deal?”

Haley gestured to Jake and the blonde. “Is this what you wanted me to see? I swear, it’s like you’ve been pushing me to find something, anything, that could ruin my marriage. And now it’s right there, right in front of me, and you sound happy!”

“I just wanted you to have some answers, Hal.”

Haley leaned across Hannah, who was sitting in between them, and lowered her voice so it didn’t travel. “Bullshit. Ever since Matt, you’ve been finding every excuse to make everyone around you as miserable as you are. Don’t forget who suggested Jake was cheating in the first place.”

“Oh, don’t pretend it wasn’t the first thing you thought,” Julie hissed. “And it’s not like it wasn’t true. I mean, look at them! She’s practically undressing him with her eyes, and he’s encouraging all of it.”
Haley looked back at them just as the blonde threw her head back in laughter and grabbed Jake’s bicep. He covered her hand with his and laughed with her.

Haley felt her throat close up as her gaze zeroed in on their hands. Everything seemed to fade way from her, the sounds of her friend’s concerned voices, the feeling of them shaking her arms, the noisy restaurant. Everything dimmed until the only people there were her, Jake, and the beautiful unknown woman.

A baby’s cry broke her out of her silent anguish and she snapped her attention to the infant unhappily bouncing in Hannah’s arms.

“He needs to be fed.” Haley whispered, reading out to grab Evan.

Julie beat her to it. “I’ll go. I’ll see if I can heat up some formula in the kitchen and check if he needs to be changed.” She threw the diaper bag strap over her shoulder and hurried in the direction she had last noticed their server.

Hannah leaned on her shoulder, staying silent. She knew Haley couldn’t talk, that if she tried, then the strength she was trying to cling on to would crumple away. Unlike Julie, who forged ahead with her emotions, Hannah was like Haley and preferred to be rationale about things. Even if it looked like the love of her life was cheating on her with a model gorgeous blonde.

“Have you ever seen her before?”

Haley shook her head, not recognizing her as someone who worked in Jake’s office. That would be the only reasonable place he would meet someone, unless he wasn’t at work when he said he was. Which, given the increasing amount of evidence, seemed like the case.

“How could he do this to me, Han?”

Hannah turned her body so that she could wrap both of her arms around Haley. “Honey, this doesn’t prove anything. It-“

“It, what? They are having dinner, in, as you said, a romantic restaurant. And look at the dress she’s wearing! I’m seeing more of her breasts in that dress that I would if she were wearing nothing but a fucking bra.”

Hannah nodded. “I know. It doesn’t look good. But look at him.” She motioned for Haley to look at Jake again. “He keeps checking his watch. Does he ever check his watch that often when he’s with you? And look at the way he moved back when she leans too close. I mean, I’m not saying he isn’t flirting a little bit, but it’s Jake. He’s always been a huge flirt, you know that. What I’m saying is that there is something – off – about their interactions.”

Haley studied Jake, realizing that Hannah was right. Though from afar it looked like the couple was involved in an intimate conversation, Jake was a little jerky in his actions. He would drop his fork a little too roughly on his plate, lean back when he noticed she was leaning too far forward, and move his body away from her when her foot got too close to his.

That was until the blonde leaned over and kissed Jake on the cheek.

“Yeah, something’s off, all right,” Haley muttered, grabbing Hannah’s arm and dragging her out of the booth. “Can we please find Jules and get out of here? I can’t watch this anymore.”

***

The three women stood around their car in a deserted mall parking lot. The clock on the dash read 12:01 AM. Haley bounced the sleeping baby in her arms.

“I didn’t want to be right.” She whispered, the brokenness in her voice making Hannah and Julie wince.

Hannah wrapped an arm around Haley’s back and leaned her head on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, honey. Maybe it’s not what we think.”

“Are you kidding me?” Julie scuffed and rolled her eyes. “They were at a nice restaurant. For hours. You saw the way she put her hand on his arm. And he didn’t move away! In fact, he grabbed her hand in return!”

“I’m just saying that it’s out of character for Jake.” Hannah glared at Julie, not moving from Haley’s side. “The Jake I know would never do anything to hurt Hales.”

“Guys aren’t trustworthy, Hannah. The sooner you realize that, the less heartbreak you’re going to go through.”

“Not every guy is like Matt. You can’t hold everyone accountable for what that scumbag did to you. And you can’t project your own fears and anger onto Haley and Jake.”

Haley closed her eyes and tried to tune out the bickering between her two best friends. Though she loved them both to death, the constant back-and-forth was irritating. It has been like this since their freshman year of college when they all met in a professor assigned chemistry study group. They were all Liberal Arts majors, so the study group proved useless, but the bonding over their hatred of calculating atomic weight forged into a lifetime friendship. That didn’t mean, however, that they all got along one-hundred percent of the time. They were all just a little too different for perfect harmony. While Haley was quiet and loved to be at home, surrounded by books and family, Hannah was the life of the party, always happy and loud. While Hannah was a dreamer and assumed everything would work itself out, Julie was pessimistic and stoic, and always waited for the second shoe to drop. They never all had the same emotions about anything they experienced.

Hannah called Julie a bitch and brought Haley out of her thoughts. “Okay, you two. Just stop it. I just found out my husband is cheating on me, so can we save whatever this is for later and focus?”

Julie straightened her back. “I’m sorry.” She moved her gaze to the sleeping Evan and jutted her chin out. “Is he doing okay? He’s been running around with us for hours now.”

Haley looked down at her six month old baby boy and felt her lips curl into a smile, her first one of the night. “Yeah, he’s fine.”

Hannah rubbed one of Evan’s tiny feet, softly cooing. “Aren’t you glad that you managed to have a rare baby that actually likes to sleep during the night? I’ve never met a baby that was such a heavy sleeper before.”

“Yeah, while I was pregnant I wished and hoped for a baby that would sleep through finding out his dad was cheating on his mom.”

Hannah filched. “I didn’t mea-“

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just tired and I would really love to just go home and eat the gallon of ice-cream waiting for me in my freezer right now.”

“Oh, I know sweetie.” Hannah resumed her position with her head on Haley’s shoulder. “Do you think he’s home right now?”

Haley sighed in response. “No, he sent me a text while we were in the car telling me that he was going to be stuck at the office late again. Something about paperwork.”

Julie looked at the clock, this time it read 12:35 am. She didn’t say anything, just looked at Haley with a raised eyebrow.

“I know, but what I am going to do?”

“I know what I would do.”

“Yeah, well I’m not going to have a bonfire in the front of my house with all of his belongings, Jules. We’re married. We have a baby.” She moved Evan around so she would have a free and ran a hand through her already tasseled hair. “And besides, I would like to give him a chance to explain first.”

“Why?”

“Why? Because I don’t want to absolutely destroy my marriage with possibly false accusations.”

***

Haley stared up at the house she shared with her husband, blinking back the tears and trying to get the panic clutching her stomach to calm down.

She closed her eyes briefly, a long tear escaping the tight hold she had on her emotions. She had promised herself she wasn’t going to react until she got all of the facts. She needed to hear him tell her.

Noticing that his car wasn’t in the driveway, she sighed and walked into the house, heading straight to the nursery to put Evan into his crib. She pressed play on the noise machine next to the crib and let the sounds of waves crashing fill the room.

She gently shut the door, praying that despite everything he’d slept through, he wouldn’t wake up and demand her attention. She needed some time to just… be. With no friends whispering in her ear or baby that needed her concentration.

Haley made her way to Jake’s office, quickly going through her memories of every time she found her husband sitting at his mahogany desk in his leather chair, working on whatever business project he had that week. He would get so into his work sometimes, that he would forget to eat or sleep. She couldn’t count the times she had to come in and gently coax him to either the kitchen or the bedroom for a break from the computer screen.

She hesitated at the door, an unknown feeling washing over her. A part of her didn’t want to enter, the thought of seeing his desk empty freezing her to core.

Haley shook her head, cursing herself for being so pathetic. She opened the door and walked into the dark room, gasping when she saw a figure hunched over the desk. Jake was sleeping on his keyboard, drool slowly oozing out his mouth. What was he doing home?

Even after everything that happened tonight, she couldn’t stop the smile that tugged at her lips. Though his hair was disheveled and he looked absolutely haggard, he was still the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.

Haley walked around the desk and gently shook his shoulders. “Babe, come to bed.”

Jake groaned and lightly smacked at her hands. “M’away.”

She shook him again. “Jake.”

Sitting up, he opened his eyes and squinted, bringing one of his hands up to rub at them. “What time is it? Did you just get home?”

“Yeah, Julie just dropped us off.” Haley wrapped her arms around her middle. “I though you were going to stay at the office?”

He looked at his still open computer, saving the excel spreadsheet he was working on before he shut the computer down. “I was, but figured that I would come home and surprise you. The work was doable at home, all internet based.” He turned the chair to meet her eyes. “Did you guys go out?”

Haley shrugged. “Yeah, Jules and Hannah didn’t want me to be along so late, so we went out to dinner.”

Not a lie, she thought, searching his body language for anything to tell her what he was doing at that restaurant.

“Where’d you go?”

She stiffened, a million of thoughts running through her mind. Did you see them? Is he trying to catch her in her spying on him? Is he going to try to turn this all around on her? “Oh, just some place Hannah wanted to try, I wasn’t really paying attention.”

He nodded, still obviously trying to shake off the sleepiness he still felt. “Well, I was going to wait to tell you, but I just have to get it out.”

He took her hands, pulling her into his body. “I wasn’t at the office this afternoon. I’ve been keeping this from you for months, because I didn’t want you to know until it was actually a thing. I know you’ve been here alone, taking care of our son, managing our home, and giving up any free time because of my late hours.”

He paused, taking a deep breath and looking into her eyes. He continued when he realized she wasn’t going to say anything until he was finished. “I have been trying to increase my client list. More clients mean more money, which we don’t necessarily need, but could be used so that we could take a break… a vacation. Well, the company has been after a particular client for a couple of years, and she recently became available for pick-up. I took the initiative to obtain her, and today I was finally able to seal the deal. I met her for dinner tonight to get the necessary signatures for the paperwork.”

Haley’s shoulders slumped as his words registered, horror and guilt washing through her. “A business meeting,” she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut and silently cursing Julie and her un-trusting narrative.

He lifted her chin and she opened her eyes to find him smiling down at her. “A business meeting.” He confirmed.

“Did you…?”

“Did I see you? No, but I did see someone looking remarkably like Julie holding a crying baby that looked remarkably like Evan, and I deduced that somehow, my working late turned into a spy mission. Like when that guy Matt cheated on Julie.” He chuckled. “I was actually kind of scared that I would come home to find my stuff on fire.”

Haley blushed and looked own at her feet, attempting to avoid looking at him. He didn’t sound angry – it was almost as if he was teasing her.

He laughed again. “I’m not mad at you. I know I’ve been absent. I also know that any thoughts of infidelity were introduced by Julie. I know you. You would never come to that conclusion, or have that kind of reaction, without talking to me first.” He ran the back of his hand down her cheek.

“I’m sorry. I wish I could say I didn’t think about it, but I let her get to me. Especially seeing you at that restaurant.”

“I know. However, back to my news. With this new client, I don’t have to work so hard to bring new people in. I’ve exceeded my quota. That means I’ll get to be home more – no more missing your delicious dinners.” He let go of Haley briefly to reach and grab an envelope behind him. “It also means I was able to get you a surprise.”

Jake handed her the envelope almost shyly, prompting her with a jerk of his chin to open it. With shaky fingers, she pulled out two airline tickets and gasped. “Scotland? We’re going to Scotland.”

She smiled again, his nervousness sliding away at the excitement in her voice. “Yes. We’ve been talking about having a second honeymoon. I’ve already talked to my mom and dad, and they’ve agreed to watch Evan while we’re gone.”

Haley grinned and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close. “I love you.”