"I'm on a business trip out of town right now. Sorry, Christopher, I haven't had a chance to tell you."
"Why don't you head home first today?"
My brain had been foggy from pulling consecutive all-nighters, and at the time, I hadn't even caught the panic threading through her voice.
She must have been off somewhere with Austin, doing God knows what, having already tossed every promise between us into the gutter.
After I'd arranged their examination orders, Winona went to the exam room alone.
Only when her figure had completely disappeared down the corridor did Austin reluctantly tear his gaze away.
Then he spoke up out of nowhere.
"We've been talking all this time, and I don't think I ever caught your name, Doc."
I lifted my eyes to look at him.
"Simmons. You can call me Dr. Simmons."
Something flickered behind Austin's eyes. He smiled.
"What a coincidence."
A jolt ran through me, but I kept my expression neutral. "You know someone with that last name?"
Austin's smile lingered as he nodded, but then his face shifted, a look of open disgust settling over his features.
"My wife's ex-boyfriend was also named Simmons. Ancient history, though."
"From what I heard, the guy was ugly as sin, had a terrible temper, treated Winona like garbage, and was a total control freak."
"Lucky for her, she was brave enough to dump him. And now she's got a great husband like me."
My fingers tightened around the pen in my hand. A cold laugh echoed inside my chest.
"Your wife told you all that herself?"
"Of course."
He clenched his fist, indignation written across his face, as if he were outraged on Winona's behalf.
"He even used her career to threaten her, tried to force her into marrying him."
"She turned him down flat, obviously. Humiliated him while she was at it."
I raised an eyebrow. In my mind, I had already sentenced Winona Harding a thousand times over.
When I first met Winona, she was a broke college kid whose entire world revolved around her textbooks.
She told me she wanted to work in Havenport after graduation. Said it was the city she'd dreamed about since she was little.
So I convinced my father to pull strings and pave her a golden path straight into one of Havenport's top firms. I even bought her an apartment here.
I held her hand and told her, "Go after whatever you want. People who truly love each other don't let distance change what they have."
The night I proposed, she stood in front of all our friends and said it herself: without the Simmons family, she wouldn't be where she was.
She took the ring, slid it onto her finger with both hands, held mine, and promised she'd be with me for the rest of her life.
And then, just like that, she betrayed me so completely it was as if none of it had ever happened.
I looked at the young man sitting across from me, exhaled slowly, and felt every last shred of meaning drain out of the world.
I twisted the wedding band on my finger, then abruptly changed the subject.
"Must be nice, having a wife who loves you that much. I wasn't so lucky."
Austin's head snapped up, eyes bright with curiosity.
I went on.
"I'm actually married too. Within the first month after the wedding, I found out my wife was cheating on me."
"She'd been keeping a whole separate household behind my back."
BANG.
The moment the words left my mouth, Austin slammed his fist on the table.
"What a piece of work! Dr. Simmons, you're such a good guy, and she doesn't even know what she has."
I gave a helpless smile, then continued at the same unhurried pace.
"And recently, I found out she got pregnant by the other man. Behind my back."
This time Austin shot straight to his feet, chest heaving.
"Trash!"
"A woman like that deserves to be struck by lightning. She deserves to rot!"
