When People We Admire Are Sleazy

Do we judge our heroes by their public deeds or private misconduct?

“Lee, he’s cheating.”

“Wait, what’s going on?”

The phone was quiet.

“Lindy?”

I heard her making that sticky-breathed, choking noise that strong people make when they’re trying not to get emotional. When they’re trying not to cry.

“He’s cheating.”

“He” must be my friend Tyler. I had introduced Lindy to Tyler two years ago. She and I had gone to New York City to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with him and some other colleagues, and the two of them instantly fell in love. After a year of long-distance dating, she got her job to transfer her to NYC where he worked. She had been living with him for less than a year when I got this call.

“Lindy, what do you need? Tell me what you need, chica.”

In her silence, I wondered:

Are matchmakers held responsible when the couple blows up?

I already felt guilty.

“Lindy, do you want to tell me what happened?” I so badly wanted to go to her, but she was a 10-hour drive away, and I had to work.

Eventually, I pulled the story out of her. She’d gone through his phone. He’d been cheating with multiple women, and it had been going on a long time, the whole time he’d been with Lindy.