Betrayal: “the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals . . . “ Wikipedia.
Jimmy asked Sheila to come to Texas to be with him, and they had lived together for a year or so. She played guitar and he played some mandolin, so they did music together. They were a couple, they were in love, they were young and didn't have children. They went to lots of concerts and spent evenings in small local venues where they hung out with artists and writers and radio DJs in Houston.
Jimmy and Sheila shared a house on a bayou north of Houston with Jimmy's best friend Jake and his girlfriend Natalie. They cooked together. They had parties with friends. The went to movies and concerts. They got high and laughed, they paddled canoes together in the bayou. It was all good, and Sheila trusted these friendships.
Then the worst happened. At the age of 27, Jake was in a fatal accident on the highway in New Mexico. Life crashed down for the three surviving friends. That first night, Sheila and Natalie each swallowed a Quaalude just to escape into sleep.
Sheila and Jimmy moved into a small house in town. Natalie stayed in the place on the bayou, but would stop by some nights after work and sleep in their spare bedroom.
Sheila sensed something was not right, and sought out a mental health therapist. One day, after some weeks of sessions, the therapist asked – as he usually did – “What's happening with you?” Sheila thought for a moment and then remembered a strange thing from a couple nights before.
“I woke a few nights ago, and I thought I heard someone crying. I figured it was Natalie, crying over Jake. I could hear her breath coming in short gasps.”
The therapist asked, “And was Jimmy awake? Did he hear this too?”
Sheila stopped and thought.
“Oh” she said, as she realized . . . “He wasn't in bed.”
The therapist asked, “Where was he?”
“I assumed he was in the spare room, comforting Natalie.”
Silence.
The therapist looked at Sheila. She looked at him. And then she realized what was really going on in the spare bedroom.
Shortly thereafter, Sheila married Jimmy anyway and they moved out west. It didn't last.
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