Honesty doesn’t make up for infidelity. If the relationship continues after a confession like this, it may be that honesty hasn’t saved it, only created a situation of mutual hostage-taking. I don’t accept alcohol as an excuse either: it will make one unable to have sex before it makes one unable to resist temptation. But…

But that’s not the story I read here. I don’t see someone who pulls the honesty parachute to save themselves from the consequences of something: I see inability to maintain a lie within a relationship. (Inability to be two-faced isn’t as respected as honesty, but arguably it’s more useful.)

I also see the narrator coming to a chilling, hard-hitting realization that this might be the end of the relationship and that it wasn’t anywhere near worth it. Again, no absolution here, but it’s valuable in itself.

I also see this “Lara” taking her time, investigating, deliberating, and then deciding how to proceed. She would have been justified in deciding otherwise, but the way she chose seems to have worked out, which is in the end the main thing. Don’t jump to forgive, don’t jump to dump. Find out what you want and what you believe will work. (It could be that “Beth” is a really good person to bounce this kind of thoughts off of.)

Infidelity is a crime against romance and love. But every such crime doesn’t have to mean the death of the relationship. Trust can be rebuilt. Someone who has realized they really regretted that mistake knows not to repeat it.

So, I do like this story.