Baseball Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend

Chapter 9: illicit affairs

After a prolonged road game stretch, Travis was finally home. He expected it to be like every other road trip. Matt was going to be out on a date. Natalie was supposed to be out of town visiting family while he was gone. There wasn't much to do that night except wind down after a rough couple of days. 

But that wasn't going to be the case. On the way home from the airport, Matt had sent him a text informing him that he returned to their apartment to find Natalie with someone. He had long suspected that she had returned to her old habits. He took some time to brace himself before confronting the situation head on as he entered his apartment to find Natalie on the couch minutes away from having sex with a complete stranger. 

"Hey." The startled couple looked at him, both equal parts horrified and surprised. Her companion had an expression that served guilt up on a platter. "Any one want to explain what's going on?"

"Dude, I'm so sorry. She told me she was single," was the explanation the affair partner gave him. Natalie was more defensive than anything.

"What are you doing here?" Natalie asked. "You weren't supposed to get home until tomorrow."

"I live here, and I wanted to come home to sleep. You had the same idea, minus the sleep," he said. "Is this what you do while I'm out on the road?"

"I don't know what you want me to do, here alone all the time while you're out," she scoffed. "You're the one that's always gone, Travis. You're so focused on the game, I don't know how to compete with that." 

"How long have you two been together?"

"I don't need to justify myself to you." Natalie stuck to the neglected partner card fairly well. 

"Six months. She told me you two weren't together anymore," the guy explained. "Said you cheated on her on the road."

"Smart. Well, I didn't cheat on her, so let's clear that up." Travis grabbed her stuff from his closet, anything he could find that was hers and threw it into a garbage bag. "I want you out of my apartment." 

"You know you can't let me go, Travie," she smirked. "You're making a mistake." 

"Think that happened when I let you back in my life," he replied. "Get out before I call the cops." Travis figured that it must have been his refusal to back down that made Natalie see he was serious this time.

"We need to talk about this-"

"There's nothing left to talk about. Good luck with her, buddy. Get out." He took her stuff, left it outside the door as Natalie's affair partner tried feebly to escort her out. "Hope you land on your feet, Nat."

"You can't do this!" she shouted as she was led out.

"Already did!" He witnessed the shamed couple argue in the parking lot, culminating in the affair partner leaving Natalie behind. An Uber arrived 15 minutes later to pick her up. 

~

"How'd Matt get wise to it?" I asked, taking in the story in its gory detail. It wasn't terribly different from mine, except Justin fully admitted guilt eventually. 

"He left his wallet that day in his room, so he went back for it before his date," Travis explained. "Natalie must have missed his car there. He heard them and sent me a message to catch them in the act. She went ballistic when she found out Matt told me. They never got along. I heard she tried to spread the rumor that he and I were actually together." I almost spat out my wine at the last sentence.

"Cheaters tend to rationalize a lot. Takes the heat off them." 

"What happened to the woman the asshole was cheating on you with?"