Betrayal:
A few years ago one of the line cooks hooked up with a girl. She ended up getting a job managing here. Right about the time I transferred over here, they had a baby and she went on maternity leave. When she came back to do some office work from home, we really hit it off and became great friends. It was common knowledge that her boyfriend was/is the biggest douche on Earth. He hates the entire world. The only time he is even remotely pleasant is after he self medicates with 5 long island iced teas. The horror stories from her over him added up over time. Like while she was at the hospital he stayed at the restaurant drinking until 3 in the morning. Just the thought of him doing that makes my blood run cold, makes me thankful for what I have, and makes me not surprised.
She found being a Mom hard, and I agreed at first it is such an adjustment period. The Moms that look so perfect, they have it all together, they can unnerve you. We bonded. Our daughters grew bigger and we hung out and vented to each other. There was one thing between us-her now husband. She had a big wedding at a huge, gorgeous church. All everyone talked about up until the wedding was how she could marry such a miserable human being. Slyly people asked questions, voiced concerns in hopes of opening her eyes to the future she was signing up for. She argued that he was different at home, and while it was hard to imagine, we walked her walk down the aisle.
Warning signs flashed when they came home early from their honeymoon. They were homesick for their daughter. Others judged, but I was understanding. To this day I have trouble leaving the girls over night.
Our friendship took some hits after about 2 years, mainly because I found out her husband trashed me a few times. He hates that I am an upbeat happy person; it actually kills him that I am pleasant. A few things got back to me that he said, so I knew he had to be trashing me at home. I felt uncomfortable confiding in her, wondering what she told him. This year, a bit before Thanksgiving, rumor had it that they were separating. She had asked him to change some ways, he hadn’t, and she had hit her limit, and was ending the marriage. No one blamed her. I asked her about it, my heart was aching for her and her daughter. I feel like she had to have seen something none of us had seen to marry him. One day I felt bad for letting him come between our friendship and called her. I am so not emotional but tears came to my eyes as I apologized and told her I would be here if she needed anyone to talk to.
At our Christmas party I noticed her sitting with some cooks from our other restaurant. I saw her flirting and had been thinking for months that they had been giving her the attention she wasn’t getting at home. I could tell because she suddenly loved her job way more than ever. Her husband had broken his foot and she was working extra shifts and coming in late. When I saw her at the party I thought to myself that she looked too comfy, too happy. Her husband limped around and talked with people but she never made an attempt to hang out with him. I figured working it out was out the window. She accepted that the marriage was ending and soon they would both be moving on.
Yesterday the grapevine struck once again. A server approached me and said:
“You know it’s all over for C right? “
“What do you mean?” My heart sank because I knew. On some level I knew.
“j. found out. C forgot her cell phone and J went through it. He thinks it happened only one time but it has been going on for months.” My mouth hung open with shock. I asked questions. It was the cook from the other restaurant.
So many things make me mad. If you were going to end it, then end it before you move on. Don’t sneak around for months lying to everyone, friends, family, and your spouse. I feel disgust. I know J is a douche but she made a morally wrong choice. I mean how many times did he think she was just having drinks up at the restaurant while she was having a booty call? She should have just ended it. Her and J never even had sex, they would go months with out, and now she is Miss Independent with a co-worker at a restaurant she manages at, her husband works at, and oh by the way, her brother in law owns? How many people knew, yet smiled and shook J’s hand, and wished him a happy holiday?
I thought C was a cool, down to Earth girl, my first Mom friend. My heart is broken at the loss of our friendship. It is totally gone now, never to be picked up again. So many people in this industry cheat on their spouses. It makes me sick. Where are people’s morals? I am not all about divorce, but I would not begrudge her being happy, but she could have at least waited until it was definite that she was leaving him. He is working at therapy, trying to lose weight, trying to change, and she is boffing her 3 o’clock fry cook.
I feel like I am so naïve to think that most people have good hearts. I constantly believe this only to be let down in some huge way.
