"Hello?"
"Hello? Emma, is that you?"
"Hi, Marcie. Jackson's in the shower. He wanted me to answer his phone because he was expecting your call."
"Great. This has as much to do with you as Jackson, so I'll just relay the information to you. We have the interview set up for this Friday at one o'clock. Does that work for you?"
I hesitated. "Do you think it's still necessary? Now that Candace has backed down, can't we just let things die down on its own?"
Marcie's voice was firm when she answered. "We really need this interview. Jackson's image was damaged when people thought he cheated on Candace. Even though most people now believe it's untrue, there's some lingering doubt. I don't want this affecting Jackson's career."
I felt my stomach drop at Marcie's explanation. The last thing I wanted was for Jackson's career to be affected by this. I had been so focused on the negative articles about me that I had forgotten the impact this would have on Jackson. I berated myself for being so self-involved and not considering how this was affecting Jackson.
"Of course I'll do it then. And Friday at one o'clock is fine with me. I'll check with Jackson."
"Great! I'm emailing Jackson as we speak about the details of the location. He should have it in his inbox before we hang up."
"Sounds good. Bye, Marcie."
"Bye, Emma." Marcie paused, not hanging up. "You've been the best thing to happen to Jackson. I've never seen him so happy."
I thanked Marcie for her kind words and disconnected the phone, feeling a rush of happiness. Remembering that I had a client meeting on Friday afternoon and hoping that it was close to where the interview was taking place, I opened Jackson's email on his phone to see if Marcie's email had arrived yet.
I was unfamiliar with Jackson's phone and realized I had mistakenly opened up his text messages instead. I was about to close it when my heart stopped. Time seemed to freeze as a sick feeling gathered in the pit of my stomach. My heart started beating again, but it was at a frenetic pace. It was beating so hard that it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest. I blinked, not wanting to believe that Jackson had been texting Claire. But her name was on his phone, as clear as day.
My hand trembled as my thumb hovered over her name. I knew nothing would be the same after I opened their conversation, but I had to know the truth. With a prayer that I would be able to survive what I saw, I tapped on her name to open their texts.
Claire: When do you want to meet?
Jackson: Can you do Wednesday at 3pm?
Claire: Yes. Do you want to meet at Andrews around the corner of your old apartment?
Jackson: No. Meet me at the Starbucks in Union Square.
My hand was shaking as I read their texts. I had purposely blocked all information about Claire, but my mother told me a while ago that Claire's mother had mentioned that she had moved out of New York. Now I realized she had been in New York all along. Had she and Jackson been screwing this entire time? Was this a replay of five years ago, and I was the idiot getting cheated on again? Their texts were time stamped earlier today. While I had been brimming with happiness, Jackson had been scheduling a rendezvous with Claire.
My shock started to wear off and I felt an incredible rage start to build in me. Jackson had deceived me again. He had probably been deceiving me this entire time. He was still sleeping with that slut, right under my nose. I wanted to scream and curse, but it didn't seem strong enough of a reaction. The feelings roiling in me were too strong, too sharp, too fucking painful to put into words. It felt as if my heart was being cut out with a knife and I was forced to stand by and watch.
"Was that Marcie, sweetheart?"
I slowly looked up from the phone, at Jackson's smiling face. I wanted to scratch that face, I wanted to run to him and punch and kick him. For lying to me. For hurting me. It was all so unnecessary. Why couldn't he have just left me alone?
Jackson's smile vanished as he got a closer look at my expression. "What's wrong?"
I threw his phone at him with all my might, watching it crash against the wall and break in two when Jackson quickly ducked.
"What the hell was that for?"
I stalked closer to Jackson until we were inches apart. "You are a piece of shit."
Jackson grabbed my arm, looking confused. "Emma! What's going on?"
I ripped my arm from his grasp, laughing coldly although with a tinge of hysteria. "Is this some sort of game to you? Let's see how much I can fuck over Emma? Is your life so empty that you have to amuse yourself by making me believe you actually cared?"
"For Christ's sake, Emma! What are you talking about?"
"Claire."
The one word made Jackson's face drain of color. He glanced at the broken phone on the ground and he couldn't mask the guilt in his eyes. "Shit. Emma, I can explain."
I shook my head frantically. "I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear anything from you. I don't ever want to see you. Don't ever contact me again."
I turned to leave but was pulled back abruptly by Jackson's hand on my arm. "Stop it! Emma, I was just contacting Claire because I needed some answers. I needed to know why she lied to me about you being married to Sean. I needed to know what she said to you all those years ago when she told you about us. You wouldn't tell me."
"Oh, so this is my fault?" I spat out, feeling disgusted.
Jackson shook his head. "No! That's not what I'm saying." He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Sweetheart, please. I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have contacted Claire. But it was driving me crazy. I needed to know what she said to you, why it was enough to make you not contact me all these years even though you yourself admitted that you still loved me. The thought that we were apart all these years when we didn't need to be - it was killing me."
"Congratulations," I said coldly. The pain was replaced with a numbness, as if my body were protecting me, knowing that I couldn't handle the searing pain that had been sweeping through me. "You can get all the answers you want from her. Maybe you can discuss what went wrong this time too. It might have something to do with the fact that I don't believe a fucking word you're saying!"
I screamed the last part, the numbness melting away as anguish overtook me. I ripped my necklace off, the delicate chain snapping with the force of my pull, and threw the diamond pendant at him. I watched it bounce off his body and fall to the floor.
Jackson grabbed my other arm so that I was forced to face him fully. He shook me, as if he were trying to make me believe him by force.