Life In The Disastrous Options Lane

He had no answer for her. It was all he could do to keep his head up, to look her...well, in the face, if not the eye.

He heard every word she said/yelled at him, in spite of her insistence that he was not listening to her. 

He heard every single word, loud and clear.

And as he digested those words, processed exactly what she was saying, he kept repeating to himself a name.

Rudy.

He would not speak the name aloud. He would not throw it back at her. He would not use it as a shield.

At least not yet.

Her voice rose to a shrill crescendo and then dropped to a whispered cry, again and again, as she at first lambasted him with insults and then pleaded with him to tell her how he could treat her like this, tell her how he could betray her like this.

He remained silent, and that infuriated her further. He knew he had no choice but to remain quiet. Any excuse he could pro offer would sound just like that, an excuse.

And if he spoke the truth, it would most likely destroy their relationship.

And he didn't want to do that. 

Despite what he knew about her and Rudy, and especially despite what others, mutual friends and acquaintances, knew about her and Rudy, he did not want to utter one single word about it.

For he still loved her, still believed she was the one, still believed the two of them had a grand and glorious future together.

Despite all the evidence to the contrary.

So he kept his mouth shut and listened to what she knew, and what she thought she knew, about his relationship with the woman she would only refer to as "that Tramp!" and hoped against all odds that this would be a situation he could take care of without having to resort to revealing that he knew what he knew...about her and Rudy.

But it wasn't looking good.