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since Craig had said it.
    It was the thing that really got to me. I mean, I’d written off Sophia. I’d written off Craig. But I wasn’t sure I’d ever forget about the kids. For almost ten years I’d spent Wednesday nights and every other weekend with Craig’s kids. And every other holiday and every other school vacation and half the summer. I’d caught colds from them and helped them with their homework. Craig and I had taken them on almost all our 32
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    vacations. We’d decided not to have kids of our own pretty much because of them. Actually, almost completely because of them. Neither of us thought it was fair the way fathers just moved on to the next set of kids.
    At least my father had never done that. He’d just rolled us all into his next family. Except my mother, who was the only one who’d resisted, who’d carved out a new life of her own. But, idiot that I was, I’d gone along with Craig. I’d even managed to convince myself that Luke and Lizzie were essentially my kids, too.
    Ha. They’d blown me off completely as soon as their father dumped me. Luke had another year of college left, and Lizzie would be heading off to her freshman year soon. I could have helped her pick out things for her dorm room. I had much better taste than her real mother. I could have helped her shop for clothes. And makeup. Lizzie’s hair was probably a mess by now. Anybody could be cutting it.
    Wait. Sophia was probably cutting Lizzie’s hair. I put on my blinker and pulled over to the side of the road. Sophia was cutting Lizzie’s hair.
    I just sat there, on the side of the street, for a while. Maybe five seconds, maybe five minutes, maybe an hour. I didn’t bother to notice, because it didn’t really matter. I mean, it’s not like anyone would have missed me.
    I knew I needed to get a grip. Wallowing like this was not my nature. I was strong. I was confident. All my life you could practically hear me roar. I wasn’t even all that freaked out when, a little over a year ago, my husband of ten years packed his bags and told me he needed some space.
    There was a part of me that was relieved I didn’t have to be the one to say it. We’d been drifting apart for a while, making lots of snide remarks, just not really liking each other much anymore.
    I thought some of it might have to do with Lizzie getting ready to Summer Blowout
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    graduate from high school. Craig’s kids had preexisted our relationship, so they’d always been part of the deal. Now we’d have to figure out what, if anything, we were without them.
    Looking back, it was odd that Sophia started spending more time with me then, not less. You’d think I’d be the last person on earth she’d want to be around once she’d set her sights on my husband. But in the months both before and after Craig moved out, she stopped by and she called. A lot. Maybe if she couldn’t be with him openly yet, the next best thing was being with the person who was still technically married to him.
    And that’s how I found out. Craig had been gone for less than a month. Sophia and I were out shopping together. I stayed in the car while she ran in to pick up some dry cleaning. Her cell phone rang. I picked it up without thinking and said hello.
    It was Craig. I guess he wasn’t expecting me to answer, and Sophia and I had always sounded a lot alike. “So, are we on for tonight?” he asked.
    “Not if I can help it,” I said. And I hung up.
    “How could you?” I asked when Sophia came back to the car.
    “What?” she said.
    “That was Craig.” My heart was beating like a maniac. I could hear blood pounding in my ears, and I wondered if Sophia could, too.
    She reached back and hooked the hangers over the handle in the backseat of her car, then turned around and put both hands on the steering wheel. She didn’t look at me. “No it wasn’t,” she said. “It must have been someone else.” I looked straight ahead. I reached into my bag and pulled