Instead, Dave burst through the door complaining about another disastrous date with a woman who owned twenty-five cats. Then he saw Shawn and me laughing together. His face changed instantly. “Uh, hey,” he said awkwardly. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Yes,” I replied. “You wanted this, remember?” Shawn politely left after giving me a kiss on the cheek. Once we were alone, Dave finally admitted the truth: dating wasn’t fun, and seeing me with someone else was breaking his heart.
I reminded him that his idea had hurt me too. Dave apologized and admitted he had neglected our marriage. We agreed that the open relationship experiment needed to end and that rebuilding our relationship would require counseling, honesty, and more time together.
That night, we remembered our first date and laughed about how far we had come. We couldn’t return to those early days, but perhaps we could create something stronger. “One day at a time,” I told him. For the first time in years, I believed our story might still have a future.
