“It’s hard to believe, I know.” I admitted, “I keep asking myself how I was so blind.”
“Melanie, it’s not because you’re blind, it’s because of how he behaved around you… the man never missed an opportunity to show you off, his eyes never strayed when you were in the room, he always spoke highly of you, he came home when he was supposed to, he was happy to support you both-“
“Actually, he hated the idea of me working or going to school.” I interjected bitterly. “He was happy to have me dependent on him.”
Cassie eyed me warily as she thought about my admission.
“That does sound controlling.” She said carefully.
“I wonder if it was so I wouldn’t question what he was doing…” I pondered and then shook my head, “it doesn’t matter now.”
“Is there anything I can do?”
“Please make sure that Billy doesn’t share any of this conversation with Ben. I have a few more things to get in order and then I’ll be serving him and heading back to North Dakota to wrap up my grandmother’s estate. My lawyer wants to maintain the element of surprise as much as possible.” My lips pulled into a guilty smile, “I already ruined that a little by telling him I knew about the other women.”
Cassie hummed to acknowledge my words and nodded.
“Billy won’t say anything. Can I check on you tomorrow?”
“That should be fine. I told Ben to stay elsewhere for the time being. I figured it would be with Angela but if he got her fired today then…” my voice trailed off, and I let the rest of the thought go unsaid. I didn’t know where else my husband would go and wasn’t going to bother guessing.
“If Billy hears anything about what Ben is up to, I’ll let you know.” She assured me, and I grimaced.
“I want to tell you not to bother but until I serve him it’s probably good to know what he’s doing.” I grumbled. She nodded and looked down at her phone awkwardly.
“I’m sorry, Mel, I need to get home…” She gave me a sad smile, and I offered one in return.
“Me too, Lily is supervising the crew that’s dismantling the hot tub right now and I plan on making a homecooked meal tonight.”
Cassie blinked a few times and opened her mouth silently. Then she closed it, swallowed, and tried again. “Crew?”
“Lily said I couldn’t light the damn thing on fire so I’m having it removed instead.”
“Oh…” her lips twitched, and she tried to keep a straight face.
“It’s okay, you can laugh.” I rolled my eyes and huffed, “Although, it seems completely logical to remove the hot tub that you witnessed your husband screwing another woman in.”
Her shoulders started to shake a little as she covered her mouth with her hand to hide the laughter that was overtaking her.
“Yes, lighting a hot tub on fire was perfectly logical.” She agreed.
· · - ·?· - · ·
My phone rang while I was chopping vegetables for the pasta.
“Hello?” I answered and clicked the speaker button without checking the screen first.
“Melanie, it’s Griffin.” My brother’s business partner replied.
“Oh, hi Griffin. I’m sorry, I didn’t check the caller ID because I’m busy making dinner,” I said, feeling oddly flustered. “How was your meeting?”
“It was fine. What are you making?” Griffin inquired.
“Pasta Primavera.”
“Homemade?” he sounded hopeful.
“The noodles are storebought.” I admitted.
