“Do you have an old phone of his?” Griffin asked after he wiped his mouth with a napkin. He gently pushed his plate forward and steepled his fingers together while he patiently waited for my response.
“I think so…” I mused after a moment.
I tried to recall where we had put our phones the last time we upgraded. Ben never traded phones in because he was worried that they’d steal his information and ‘didn’t need a few hundred dollars off that badly’. “I think they’d be in the officecloset,” I vaguely remembered him putting them in a box of old electronics and wires.
“Alright, I can get around the password block if I use one of his old phones for the verification code.” Griffin looked pleased with himself and leaned back in his chair. “I can even temporarily activate the old phone, so he doesn’t get a notification on his phone when we do it, if you know the account information.”
“As long as he didn’t think to change that too then it’s been the same password since our first family plan.” I smiled, “He hated spending time in phone stores so that was one of the errands he gladly let me take care of.”
I cleared the table while Lily showed Griffin where the home office was. I frowned at my reflection in the window as I rinsed off the plates. I was feeling a surprising amount of guilt about letting another man roam around my home unsupervised… especially through my husband’s belongings.
He let another woman fuck him in the hot tub he had installed as a birthday gift for you last year.
I reminded myself and dropped the plate back into the soapy water. I felt Lily enter the room before I heard her.
“You okay?” She asked quietly as she leaned against the counter and watched my face cautiously.
“Yes… no.” I admitted with a grimace.
“Well, that seems appropriate.” Her thin shoulders rose a few inches and fell back into a relaxed position. “It would be strange if none of this was getting to you.”
“Is it stupid that I feel guilty for letting Griffin go through Ben’s stuff?” I dropped my chin to my chest and took a shallow breath.
“Stupid?” Lily paused, “No… it speaks to the level of loyalty you always had for your husband… but you’re not doing anything wrong by protecting yourself.”
“Logically, I know that.” I pulled the plate back out of the water and started aggressively scrubbing it, “but that doesn’t seem to be changing the guilt.”
Lily nodded but didn’t say anything.
“I’m sure I’ll get over it.” I put the plate in the strainer, “If the constant flow of horrors we’ve discovered so far are any indication of what’s to come, I’m sure there are more heart breaking secrets waiting in that laptop.”
“I think I found the phone.” Griffin called from deeper in the house.
“Coming.” I replied and dried my hands.
“I’m going to head home, I think you’re in good hands tonight.” Lily shot a little smirk at me, “I want a full update tomorrow though.”
I felt a flash of panic rush through me at the idea of being left alone with Griffin to sort through my husband’s deceit.
“Are you sure?” I asked before my brain could silence my panic. I reached for her hands and winced, “I’m sorry, it’s selfish of me to even ask… you’ve been by my side for days.” I took a deep breath, “you’re right, I’m in good hands and I will definitely give you an update tomorrow.” I pasted a shaky smile on my face and straightened my spine.
Lily ignored my temporary moment of insanity and responded to my fake bravado with a giggle.
“Melanie, you already did the hard part… you didn’t pretend that the truth wasn’t real. Which is the hardest part of accepting that someone has betrayed you.” Her sad smile reminded me that Lily had been betrayed by a partner in the past too. “Just remember, no matter what you uncover… it’s all stuff that has already happened. The worst has ALREADY happened even if you don’t know about it yet.”
A tear rolled down my cheek, and I angrily swiped it away.
“Hormones.” I muttered.
“Ah yes, the first of many things you will blame the baby for…” Lily laughed, and my lips twitched into an unwilling smile.
“Baby?” Griffin parroted from the doorway.
14-Ben
“Your device has been deactivated if you believe this is an error one of our representatives will be happy to assist you.” The robotic voice instructed while I stared at my phone in confusion.
What the fuck is going on?
