Betrayal in the Pet Store

I was stacking dog food on the high shelves when my heart dropped. There was my boyfriend,

Jake, the man who was supposed to be three hundred miles away on a work trip.

He wasn't alone. He was laughing with a woman I’d never seen, holding a leash

for a golden retriever puppy. The betrayal sliced through me sharper than any knife.

Jake turned, and our eyes locked. The smile slipped from his face like a mask falling off.

He looked like he’d seen a ghost. "This is Zoe," Jake stammered, avoiding my piercing

gaze. The other woman, Lily, smiled warmly, blissfully unaware

that she was standing in the middle of a wrecking ball. As Lily explained they had just adopted