BETHANY FINDS LARRY WITH JADE — HEARTBROKEN, SHE SECRETLY RETURNS TO THE AIRPORT IN TEARS!

Bethany stood in front of the house, holding her phone tightly in one hand and her purse in the other. She had been looking forward to seeing Larry, hoping they could finally spend some peaceful time together after everything they had been through. But when she arrived, the house was silent, the front door was locked, and Larry was nowhere to be found.

She tried calling him once. No answer.

She called again, listening to the phone ring until the call went to voicemail. Her smile slowly disappeared as she looked through the front window, hoping to catch a glimpse of him inside.

BETHANY: “Larry, where are you? You knew I was coming back. Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

She stepped away from the door and looked around the driveway. His car was missing, and there was no sign that he had returned home. Bethany tried to convince herself that there had to be a reasonable explanation. Perhaps he had gone to the store or stepped out to handle something important.

But something inside her refused to settle.

She opened her messages and checked their recent conversation. There was nothing that explained where Larry had gone. The longer she stood there, the more uneasy she became. She had already endured so much uncertainty in her marriage, and the last thing she wanted was another reason to question where she stood in Larry’s life.

Bethany wiped her palms against her clothes and decided to look for him.

She drove through the neighborhood, checking the places where she thought he might be. She called him several more times, but every attempt ended in disappointment. Finally, she remembered Jade.

The thought immediately made her pause.

BETHANY: “No. Larry wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t leave me wondering where he is just to go spend time with Jade.”

Yet she could not ignore the possibility. She turned her car around and headed toward Jade’s house, telling herself that she only wanted an answer. She did not want an argument. She did not want another painful conversation. She simply wanted to know why her husband had disappeared without telling her anything.

When Bethany arrived, she parked a short distance from the house. At first, everything looked ordinary. Then she noticed Larry’s car parked near the driveway.

Her heart sank.

She stared at the vehicle for several seconds, unable to move. She recognized it immediately. There was no mistake, no confusion, and no reasonable explanation she could invent to make the sight less painful.

BETHANY: “Larry… what are you doing here?”

She stepped out of her car and walked toward the house, but stopped before reaching the front door. Through the window, she saw Larry sitting with Jade. They appeared comfortable together, talking as though nothing else in the world required their attention.

Jade said something that made Larry smile.

That small smile hurt Bethany more than she expected. She had spent so much time trying to reach him, trying to make him talk to her, trying to remind him that their marriage still mattered. Yet here he was, giving someone else the attention she had been begging him for.

Bethany watched quietly, her eyes filling with tears.

She wanted to knock on the door. She wanted to walk inside and demand an explanation. She wanted Larry to look at her and tell her why he had left her searching for him while he sat at Jade’s house.

But then she imagined the embarrassment of confronting them, the possibility of Larry becoming angry, and the terrible feeling of having to beg her own husband to explain himself.

She could not bring herself to do it.

BETHANY: “I can’t keep doing this to myself. I can’t keep chasing somebody who knows exactly how much this hurts me.”

She took a shaky breath and stepped backward. Neither Larry nor Jade noticed her standing outside. Bethany returned to her car, closed the door, and sat in silence.

For a moment, she considered calling Larry one more time.

Perhaps he would answer if he knew she was nearby. Perhaps he would explain that she had misunderstood what she saw. Perhaps he would come outside and reassure her that she still had a place in his life.

But she had already given him so many opportunities to make her feel wanted.

This time, she put her phone facedown on the passenger seat.

She would not call him. She would not send a message. She would not tell Jade that she had been there.

Bethany started the engine and drove away, tears running down her cheeks.

As the road stretched ahead of her, memories of their relationship flooded her mind. She remembered the days when Larry would make time for her without being asked, when his presence alone could make her feel safe, and when she believed that whatever problems they faced, they would face them together.

Now, she could not even find him when she needed him.

BETHANY: “How did we get here, Larry? When did loving you become something that hurts this much?”

She pressed her lips together, trying to control her emotions as she continued driving. She did not want anyone to see her like this. She did not want friends asking questions or family members trying to convince her that everything would eventually work out.

She needed to be alone.

And there was only one place she could think of going.

The airport.

Bethany had not planned to return there so soon, but the thought of going back to the house and waiting for Larry felt unbearable. At least at the airport, she could sit quietly without staring at an empty driveway or wondering when her husband might decide to come home.

When she reached the terminal, she parked her car and remained inside for several minutes. Her hands rested on the steering wheel while she tried to gather herself.

Finally, she stepped out, picked up her purse, and walked toward the entrance.

Families moved past her with suitcases. Couples embraced before their flights. Travelers checked their phones and hurried toward the departure gates. Everyone seemed to be going somewhere, while Bethany felt as though she had lost the one place where she belonged.

She found a quiet seat near the terminal windows and sat down.

Her phone vibrated.

For one hopeful second, she thought it might be Larry calling to ask where she was. She reached for the phone quickly, but the notification was only an ordinary message from someone else.

The disappointment made her eyes fill with tears again.

She switched the phone to silent and placed it inside her purse.

BETHANY: “I’m not going to tell anybody what happened. I don’t want to explain why I’m sitting here crying. I just need to figure out what I’m supposed to do now.”

She lowered her head, allowing herself a few moments to cry without worrying about who might notice. She had left Jade’s house without confronting Larry, but the questions she carried were still waiting for answers.

Did Larry even realize she had been looking for him?

Would he return home and discover she was gone?

And if he did call, would she have the strength to answer?

Meanwhile, at Jade’s house, Larry finally glanced at his phone. He noticed the missed calls from Bethany and frowned. He had been so distracted that he had not realized how many times she had tried to reach him.

LARRY: “That’s strange. Bethany has been calling me.”

Jade looked at him.

JADE: “Then why don’t you call her back?”

Larry hesitated, staring at Bethany’s name on the screen. He knew she had expected to see him, and he suddenly wondered whether she had gone looking for him.

He pressed the call button.

At the airport, Bethany’s phone began vibrating inside her purse.

She looked down at it but did not reach for it.

Larry called again.

Bethany closed her eyes, trying to decide whether answering would give her the explanation she needed or simply open the door to another painful conversation.

Then a message appeared on her screen.

It was from Larry.

LARRY’S MESSAGE: “Bethany, where are you? I need to talk to you. Please answer me.”

Bethany stared at the words, tears gathering in her eyes once more. For the first time that day, Larry was the one searching for her.

But before she could decide what to do, another message appeared—this time from Jade.

JADE’S MESSAGE: “Bethany, I think you deserve to know why Larry is here.”

Bethany went completely still.

She read the message twice, her heart pounding as she looked toward the departure gates. Whatever Jade was about to tell her, it could change everything about what she had just witnessed.

Her thumb hovered over the screen.

Should she answer Jade and finally hear the truth, or board a flight and leave Larry behind without another word?

TO BE CONTINUED…