He Said He Found His Soulmate… I Thought It Was Another Woman. I Was So, So Wrong (2 of 3)

My stomach dropped.

I looked at my mom, expecting an explosion. Tears. Screaming. Something. But she just sat there, staring at the floor like she already knew. Like she’d been expecting it.

“Who is it?” I asked, my voice cracking.

He paused. “I… I don’t think that matters.”

“Of course it matters!” I said, louder. “You’re blowing up our entire family for someone, and we don’t even get to know who?”

But he wouldn’t answer. Not that night. Not ever, it seemed.

Over the next few weeks, he moved into a tiny apartment across town, just big enough for one. No photos on the walls. No mention of the “soulmate.” He stopped coming to Sunday dinners. When my mom mailed him a birthday card, he didn’t reply.

I assumed he’d had an affair. Maybe someone from work. A secretary cliché. Or maybe a high school flame rekindled through Facebook. But as the months passed, something felt… off.

There were no pictures. No posts. No sightings. No one knew anything. My mom never asked—or if she did, she never told me.

Then, one rainy Thursday evening, almost a year later, I stopped by a coffee shop on my way home. I was halfway through ordering when I saw him.

My dad. Sitting by the window.