My Boyfriend Told Me He Was Leaving His Wife — Then His Wife Invited Me to His Birthday Party…

Eileen cautiously texted Laura and asked if she could meet her and was pleasantly surprised when Laura agreed. Eileen expected Laura to scream at her, slam a door, or at minimum throw a drink. Instead, Laura was at the coffee shop door looking like a woman who'd already used up all her anger and had none left over for the other woman.

"So," Laura said, sliding into the booth. "How long has he been telling you we sleep in separate rooms?" "Eight months," Eileen said. "What has he been telling you?" "Oh, the usual excuses about work, business trips, stress, and so on."

Laura pulled out her phone. They went line by line — Eileen's texts against Laura's texts — and somewhere around minute twenty, the horror curdled into something closer to hysterics. He used the same nicknames. Same "long day, can't talk" excuse at 9 p.m. sharp, every single time. Same monologue about being "the only one who really sees him." He hadn't even bothered to write two different scripts. Laura wiped her eyes from laughing, and said, "I almost respect the efficiency." Eileen didn't. But she was starting to understand why Laura wasn't crying anymore.