I’d been deployed overseas for eight months when I finally got approved for two weeks of leave.
It had been a difficult deployment. We’d lost people, and I was exhausted in ways I couldn’t really explain.
All I wanted was to see my husband, Brandon.
I decided not to tell him I was coming home three days early.
I even stopped to buy his favorite takeout on the way.
When I opened our front door, the house was strangely quiet.
Then I heard a woman laughing.
I walked into the living room and found Brandon sitting on the couch with a woman I’d never seen before.
They were holding hands.
He looked at me and said, “You’re not supposed to be here yet.”
I couldn’t believe those were his first words.
The woman stood up.
“Brandon, who is she?”
He didn’t answer.
I told her I was his wife.
She looked completely confused.
Then she said, “You told me your divorce was finalized in February.”
That was five months earlier.
Brandon had apparently been telling people we were separated while I was deployed.
He’d even moved her belongings into our bedroom.
She grabbed her purse and left.
I didn’t scream. I was too tired.
I went upstairs, packed a bag, and called my sister.
Brandon kept saying we needed to talk.
We did, eventually.
But that night, I needed somewhere I could sleep without wondering what else he had lied about.
