When she saw me, her expression shifted from confusion to surprise.
Then to a flicker of smugness she barely bothered to hide.
"This is why you want the divorce. Isn't it?"
My face was blank when I asked him.
Since last night, my heart had already gone cold toward him.
Even now, learning he'd been cheating, I wasn't all that surprised.
Clement panicked for a few seconds, then quickly composed himself.
And did the one thing I genuinely hadn't expected.
He reached out and took the young woman's hand.
"Since you've seen it, there's no point hiding it anymore."
"This is Hayley Porter. She's the new assistant in our department."
Hayley didn't speak. She just gazed at Clement with adoring eyes.
I listened, but something inside me had already died.
"So she's the one you've been cheating with."
"Don't make it sound so ugly." Clement frowned. "We're simply a better match."
Hayley picked her moment to chime in, her voice syrupy sweet.
"Meg, you can't force these things."
"Clement and I are happy together. I hope you can let him go gracefully."
She called me Meg, like we were familiar. I was barely a few years older than her.
"Gracefully?"
I repeated the word. It tasted like a joke.