What followed swept her up in a rush of feeling she had never known before. None of the younger men she had been with had ever made her feel so wanted, so seen, so fully herself. She didn’t regret it. Not even the repeated calls from Mike could pull her out of that strange, bright happiness.
“If I were a better man, I’d be too ashamed to look either of us in the eye,” Victor said later, his expression dark. “Why talk like that?” Marina asked honestly. “Because I’ve betrayed my own son.” Marina shook her head. “No. The only one betraying anyone here is Mike. And I need to be honest with you.”
Victor looked at her carefully. “I haven’t loved your son for a long time,” she said. “Our marriage has been running on habit and shared bills. And he made it pretty clear how little I matter when he went off with someone else.” Victor was quiet for a long moment, his hand resting lightly against her back.
“Marina,” he said at last, “this has to be something we let go. I’m married. You’re married. We can call it a beautiful mistake.” She didn’t want to agree, but she nodded anyway. Instead of arguing, she leaned in and kissed him again.
That night she slept deeply and peacefully. It was sweet, but underneath it all was the bitter knowledge that he was probably right. There was no future in this. All she could do was live inside the moment until he left, while ignoring the endless calls from Mike.
Days blurred into nights filled with secret happiness. On her way to work, Marina found herself wondering how many more weeks this hidden romance could last. Then one evening the lock turned, and Victor came in pale and shaken, his face badly drawn. Marina rushed to him, fearing the worst and wondering if Mike had somehow found out everything.
“Mike…” Victor managed, sliding down the wall to the floor in the hallway. What about Mike? Had he left the other woman? “He’s dead,” Victor said hoarsely, and Marina’s cry echoed through the condo. There had been no work trip. Mike had driven to a nearby city to meet a woman he’d met online.
They were on the highway in her car when they crashed into a semi. Both of them died instantly. The truth came out that same day, but by then Marina barely cared about the details. What was harder to bear was watching Victor blame himself for everything.
The funeral was thick with judgment. By then the whole family knew the ugly circumstances of the crash. As a young widow, Marina hated Mike for leaving her with that public humiliation. “If it weren’t for us, my boy might still be alive,” Victor said quietly at the gathering afterward. “No,” Marina answered firmly. “He made his own choices. That’s what killed him.”…
