until I was willing to apologize to him for his indiscretions?
I never planned on being your friend when I dressed up as Justice. I
just wanted to know the truth about my husband and the girl in the
picture. You were not what I expected. Instead of a homewrecker, I met a sweet woman who will be a wonderful mom soon. You and your child
deserve better than Jeremy Whittaker.
I know what I am giving you is not enough to set you up for the rest
of your life, but I want you to take it. I can’t force you to stay away from
Jeremy and start again. However, I encourage you to have a life with
someone who loves you and makes you feel proud of yourself. Not a life
of Jeremy’s domination and second thoughts.
The pictures I sent you were just a taste of my dear husband’s flings.
You received a few months’ worth. Imagine the album I could put
together of all of his affairs.
While you were wearing my dress, I was hosting a women’s luncheon
on domestic violence. How ironic is that? But those are memories that
should be buried and forgotten. Looking back when I am old and grey, I
don’t want to think I stayed around to be treated like I was nothing.
From your pregnancy, it is apparent Jeremy has become a little
sloppy about practicing safe sex. As of today, I can confirm he has not passed on any STDs to me. Today. Let’s hope that stays true.
This letter has become a little more preachy than I hoped. I just
wanted to send you a friendly warning. No, not a threat. Not a leave my
husband alone. Because if you want him still, he’s yours. But I would say
that no amount of money is worth what Jeremy will put you through.
Find someone who will share a dessert with you and not make you wish
you had ordered one yourself.
I wish you the best, Ginger. Really.
~ Caitlin Chase
A courier would deliver the letter and the cash to her. The choice she made
was now all hers.
This was it. Time was up. I was free. One last letter, and I would go. I wasn’t
going to pretend I had been kidnapped or missing. I was going to leave him a message.
I placed a vase of black roses on the counter with a note below it.
Jeremy,
My senior year of high school, I went to a dance, and I came back
broken. The details of the evening are not relevant… What is important
is the way it made me feel about myself. Because of my own self-
loathing, I was willing to do anything to keep a man that didn’t really love me.
In the beginning, you loved the idea of me. I was the perfect
accessory to your perfect life. As I aged, I lost that new car shine. No matter how hard I tried to keep my twenty-year-old body, I couldn’t. You
shamed me into believing I wasn’t good enough.
