“My best friend for 37 years asked me to take one last photo together during our vacation… as friends. When I asked him why he was saying “last,” he smiled and replied, “Because tomorrow you will find out who I really am…”

My heart began pounding.

I kept reading.

Michael wrote that during the twentieth year of our marriage, he had done something he could never forgive himself for.

That was the year I spent months caring for my sick mother. I stayed at her house most of the week.

I remembered that time perfectly.

Susan was also going through a difficult period. Her marriage had just ended. She came to our house frequently.

Sometimes I was even the one who asked her to stop by, bring Michael something for dinner, or simply keep him company.

Then I reached a sentence in the letter and stopped.

I didn’t want to keep reading.

But I already knew.

What I was most afraid of finding was written in the next few lines.

Michael and Susan had had an affair.

Not just once.

It hadn’t been an accidental mistake.s

It had lasted almost eight months.