A Sense of Symmetry Pt. 03

"Beth, he's my husband."

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you love Jason, and I'll drop the subject," Beth said.

Dani looked her in the eye. "I love Jason," she said.

"You're still lying."

"Beth! You said you'd drop it!"

"All right, all right. Just do yourself a favor. Never try to lie when it's really important. Your eyes always give you away."

"I suppose you think you're smart," Dani said.

"I am smart. That's why we're friends."

* * *

That night, Jason asked her, "So, what was that all about, anyway?"

"What was what all about?" Dani said.

"This morning. Why was Beth asking you if you love me?"

"We were just joking around. She's getting the jitters about marrying Howard, and we were playing shrink."

"You aren't a very good liar, Dani."

"You're the second person today to tell me that," Dani said. "I'm not lying."

"Did you and Beth talk about Ben?"

"Of course we did."

"What about him?"

"What do you mean? Just things we remembered about him, that's all. She told me something really nasty about him."

"What?" asked Jason, sounding more eager than he probably meant to.

Dani didn't really want to tell him, but it would get his attention away from the subject of how she felt about him. "He was sleeping with Rebecca."

"Rebecca, as in Julie's mother?"

"That's the one."

"What about what you told me, that he didn't believe in screwing around with married women?"

"Apparently he made an exception."

"Some exception. That's kind of sick, when you think about it. He was sleeping with the mother of the mother of his child? You were right. That is nasty."

"Told you."

"Well, at least you didn't say what I was afraid you were going to."

"What was that?"

"That Ben was sleeping with you. Or that you were in love with him, or something."

"That's dumb, Jason." Dumb, but the truth.