“But imagine coming home everyday to me waiting on the porch on this?” I teased.
“I enter through the garage.” He said and rolled his eyes, “I’d have to walk out our front door to find you.”
The man had never been anything more than appearances, I realized as I brushed past him and lowered myself down on the first step.
“Mel?” Griffin started and sounded worried.
“I’m fine, I’m just not going to have this conversation while standing.” I waved a hand and leaned back against the supporting pillar.
Not that this is all that comfortable either.
I looked up at Ben and waited for him to start speaking. He looked back and forth between Griffin, who stayed between him and the door, and me before he finally lowered himself down on the step beside me and angled his body to face me.
“Mel, I love you…” He started and reached for my hands.
“No.” I monotoned. He winced but nodded, and his hands slowly retreated while he quickly recalibrated how he wanted to handle the conversation.
“I want to come home. I know I can fix this.” I tried.
“No.” I rolled my eyes.
“What do you mean no?”
“You’re not coming back home and you can’t fix this. I watched you have sex with another woman in the hot tub you bought me.” His face fell, and his eyes filled with tears. “You were busy destroying our marriage while I was burying my grandmother,” I added.
I desperately wanted to elaborate on just how many of his sins I was aware of but my lawyer had reminded me, again, this morning, to keep what I knew to myself so that Ben wouldn’t know what evidence to start destroying.
“I’m sorry to be calling on a weekend like this but my husband is on his way home right now and I uncovered a lot of new information.”
“Send it over right away,” Penelope said. Even on a Sunday morning, this woman was all business.
“I need some guidance on how to handle this encounter,” I admitted, and the familiar feeling of nausea washed over me again.
“Why is he there?”
“I’m pretty sure he figured out that I gained access to his phone and laptop.”
After I assured her that he had never verbally revoked my access to either, she told me I hadn’t done anything wrong legally and had no obligation to admit or deny my actions. She also told me that legally he could have access to the house and while changing the code was legal, I couldn’t change the locks without some sort of court order. She suggested continuing to ask him for space, but allowing him to get his belongings if he was cooperative. If he was hostile, then she told me to call thecops and then call her so she could request to be in front of a judge in the morning.
I admitted I had mentioned the NDA’s to him, and she told me to avoid saying anything else about them and act confused if he mentioned them.
Gaslighting at its finest.
“It was a mistake…” his voice yanked me back to the present conversation, and I felt my jaw clench.
“Was it the first time?”
He gulped, and his eyes flitted to Griffin before they landed back on me.
Does he think Griffin is going to help him get out of this?I was amused by the thought and struggled to keep my facial expression neutral.
“I won’t lie to you. I’ve made mistakes before,” he finally conceded.
“With Angela or with others?” I pushed, curious to see just how much information he was willing to volunteer. The porch camera was recording everything, and the more I had, the faster I would be out of this marriage.
“Angela was relentless. I didn’t invite her here and I didn’t ask for her advances.” He started to whine.
His ability to tell partial truths and spin them in his favor was impressive. He would’ve made an excellent lawyer… his personality was well-suited for it, too.
