Love With A Consummate Con Man

You can pretend to be blind. You can pretend to be stupid. You can pretend anything you want. But the truth is, if someone loves you to pieces Monday through Friday and they’re busy, busy, busy Saturday and Sunday, something is wrong. Something is very wrong. And deep down, you know it.

When Meg met Scott, it was like a scene out of a movie. Two strangers make eye contact, strike up a conversation and voila!

“Everything seemed so perfect,” says Meg. “Scott was so handsome, a successful attorney, attentive and generous. He was the perfect boyfriend. We had coffee together in the morning, lunch at the club, occasional drinks after work and even dinners. We were together so much I often wondered when he worked. But I noticed that we never spent weekends together. After three months, I called him at home for the first time. The number was disconnected.”

But there was a very good explanation. When they met Scott had told Meg he was separated from his wife. Well, now he admitted that he had moved back home because he had a 2-year-old son and he wanted to be with him until the divorce was final.

“He felt this would make the transition easier for the child. I believed him and admired his honesty.”

After getting that out of the way, Scott started bringing Meg to his house. She even slept over. He introduced her to everyone at his firm, all his friends. He got to know her family.

“He shared every aspect of his life with me and vice versa.”

Scott’s divorce was taking a long time. Two and a half years after that movie-meeting, he was still waiting, and so was Meg. In the meantime, Scott bought a new house, a new car and he and his wife had a new baby. But, he could explain! The house and car were “just money” and he could always make more, and the baby was “an accident.” And about the divorce, how could he leave his wife now? The new baby, postpartum blues.

“He had a reason for everything and to me, his reasons seemed valid and fair. I believed him. So I waited.”

Another year passed. Still no divorce. Meg couldn’t figure out what was going on. Scott must be getting a divorce. After all, he spent so much time with her. She even dropped him off at his house.

It seems Meg wasn’t the only one who was getting curious. So was Scott’s wife, Debra. She used to travel on business, but now she was home with her children. Meg would find Scott and Debra’s phone number on her caller ID.

“She would call me and hang up and I would call her and hang up.”

And then, one day, Debra called and didn’t hang up. She wanted to know why Meg was driving by her house. Meg told her she wasn’t driving by her house, she was dropping off her husband. And then she told her everything. Everything.

Debra wouldn’t believe her. So Meg described the contents of her vanity, the color of her sheets, the books on her night table. She described the entire interior of her house, and the house she lived in before this one, and a scar Scott had on his …

“I admit I went a little overboard, but I had waited for almost four years for this moment of truth. I don’t know what I expected. I didn’t tell her to hurt her, but to get to the truth.”

Debra called Scott and Scott called Meg. He told her he would never see her again. And he never has.

“I took my chances,” says Meg. “I’ve spent months in therapy trying to figure it out. I went through a deep depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. I have not dated since Scott. Still, I don’t regret the last four years. They’ve made me stronger. However, I don’t recommend an affair to gain strength. It’s too high a price.”