My husband’s best friend was standing there, having just gotten out of the silver BMW that was parked in front of the building. He glanced up and saw me, clearly shocked by my presence for some reason. That reason became apparent when my husband removed himself from the back seat and attempted to peel off the woman who was in there with him. She looked like a damn octopus, trying to drag him back inside the car with her.

“Don’t go, you can come with me instead – again,” she tacked that last word on rather slyly. My eyes moved from that spectacle back to Wes’s guilty face. I’d hand it to him, the red hue of embarrassment he had going on really helped sell the guilty look.

“What’s wrong with you?” Tucker asked his friend when he noticed him just standing there. That was when my husband turned around and realized I was there on the sidewalk, not even ten feet away. It just so happened, that his flavor of the day managed to get herself free of the backseat and wrap her arms around him, while simultaneously sucking on his neck, at the same moment he noticed me.

“Shit!” was hissed from between his clenched teeth, then my name, “Mina,” all while trying to wrestle the other woman off his body.

I ignored him and the spectacle he was causing. I also ignored the photographer stationed across the street who happened to be the lucky asshole to capture every bit of it. I ignored Wes when he moved to come towards me, and do what? I had no clue. I was able to bypass all of it because the world’s most prompt and efficient Uber driver pulled up just in the nick of time.

I scrambled into the black Honda Pilot and quickly locked the door behind me. “Please, drive as quickly as possible,” I asked. “That ex of mine can’t take a hint,” I instructed so he would understand it was an uncomfortable situation I was escaping from. The man, who was earning every bit of the large tip he was about to get, got us out of there before I managed to slip my seatbelt on.

“Why can’t the exes ever just let things be when it’s over?” The man asked.

“I wish I knew,” was all I could manage to say because let’s face it, I was the one who needed to take a hint. I couldn’t believe he brought someone to the apartment only an hour before we were supposed to be at my family’s house for dinner. I also couldn’t believe, after everything we had discussed, and all that he had on the line, that he would make such a public display of his bullshit again. My stomach felt queasy as my heart hammered heavily against my chest.

My phone remained on silent as we drove. My driver, Ted, attempted a little small talk, but I thwarted anything further by explaining that I was on my way to a family dinner to tell them how my husband had cheated on me and our marriage was all over.