-“Isabel?”
-“Hey”
-“How r u
doing?”
-“Need to talk
to u”
No messages
showed for a while. I could imagine Matthew’s face reading the text. He
probably sensed that it was bad news.
I knew he had to cover several cases and he was probably in the operating
room of some hospital in San Bernardino. There was a long pause, and then I
typed:
-“R u in
surgery?”
-“Yes, sorry”
-“K. I know
you’re busy but let me know when I can call u”
I was feeling
queasy, I felt like I was going to pass out. There was a heavy sensation in my
chest that made it very difficult to breathe. It has been the worst day of my
life.
I knew what the
right thing to do was, but I didn’t like the idea of putting an end to my
secret “e-love-story”. I was
completely aware of how risky it was, but I tried to justify my licentious
behavior reminding myself that I had never touched Matthew. It was all
happening on text message, e-mail, the phone and my blog.
I had been
careful enough to eliminate all the compromising messages, but I’ve sent a couple
of e-mails from my phone that I guess, I didn’t delete from my e-mail
account. That’s all Larry needed
to see to find out about Matthew.
We had been
texting the night before, and right before going to bed, I had to go to the
front door to find Rudolph, my orange chubby tabby that had gotten out earlier.
He likes to hang out in the bushes, next to the front door. I’ve left my phone
laying on my nightstand for about five minutes. That’s when Matthew’s last
message came in. Larry had just
come to bed and picked up my phone when he heard the buzz. He saw the last message, and then he
scrolled down and realized that I’ve been talking to Matthew for a while.
When I came to
bed with Rudolph in my arms, he announced in a low voice, “you got a text
message”
“I did?” I
pretended to be unaware. My heart was bouncing out of my chest, hoping that
Matthew hasn’t written anything inappropriate. “Can’t text anymore, can we talk
tomorrow?” I read with relief.
Larry’s eyes
were inquisitive, as he glanced at me. “What does Matthew want?” He knew we
worked together, but it was Sunday at 10 pm. “Nothing, just chatting”, I explained as I replied “nite
nite”. He didn’t ask more questions and I tried to pretend nothing was going
on.
