She's Back, I'm Over It

Synopsis

In the third year of my marriage to Tristan Stone, his first love, Claire Summers, returned home from abroad. I saw the news in my best friends' group chat. Sophie Reed had sent a candid photo taken at the airport. The woman in the picture wore a beige trench coat and pushed a suitcase, her smile gentle and elegant. The caption read: [Claire's back. Just landed. Tristan picked her up himself.] The group chat went silent for a few seconds, then exploded. [Holy crap, why is she back?] [Eva, does Tristan know she's back?] [Didn't she get married abroad? Did she get divorced?] I stared at the photo for a long time, until my eyes started to sting, then finally typed back, slowly: [Yes, he told me last night.] Last night, Tristan came home after midnight, carrying a faint scent of perfume that was not his usual cologne. As he loosened his tie, he said, "Claire is coming back tomorrow. Her flight lands at night. I'm going to pick her up." His tone was as casual as if he were talking about the weather. I was crouched by the sofa, feeding the cat. When I heard him, my hand trembled, and some of the cat food spilled onto the floor. "She's coming back alone?" "Yeah, she's divorced," he said, shrugging off his suit jacket and tossing it onto the sofa. "She doesn't have many friends here, so it's the least I can do to help her out."