Chapter 5 - LEAH
Her name was Leah.
I knew because someone had tagged her.
Leah Whitmore.
Thirty-two.
Nashville.
Marketing director.
Blonde.
Beautiful in that effortless way social media always makes people look.
I clicked before I could stop myself.
There were old college photos.
Parties.
Football games.
Graduation.
And there was Brandon.
Years younger.
Arm around her waist.
My stomach dropped.
Dad stood across the kitchen.
He didn’t ask to see.
That mattered.
The old version of my father would have been over my shoulder already, gathering ammunition.
This version waited.
Finally I said, “They dated.”
“You know that?”
“There are pictures.”
“How long ago?”
“College.”
Dad nodded.
“That doesn’t automatically mean anything.”
I looked at him.
“You’re defending him?”
“No.”
He set the coffee pot down.
“I’m refusing to tell you what to think.”
That shut me up.
My phone buzzed again.
Brandon.
Morning beautiful. How are my girls?
I almost threw the phone.
Instead, I typed:
Who is Leah?
The typing bubble appeared immediately.
Stopped.
Appeared again.
Stopped.
Then my phone rang.
I answered.
“Hi.”
“Audrey.”
His voice had changed.
“Who is Leah?”
“She’s a friend from college.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You forgot to mention your guys-only weekend included women.”
“It didn’t originally.”
“Originally?”
“Chris’s wife decided to come.”
“And Leah?”
“She lives near Nashville.”
“So she just happened to appear?”
“Basically.”
Dad quietly carried June into the living room.
Giving me privacy.
I hated how grateful that made me.
“How long have you known she was coming?”
“Audrey.”
“That’s a number question.”
A pause.
“A couple weeks.”
My hand tightened around the phone.
“You knew?”
“It wasn’t a big deal.”
“You lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie.”
“You told me no wives.”
“Leah isn’t anybody’s wife.”
The sentence was so stupid that for a moment I couldn’t respond.
“Wow.”
“That came out wrong.”
“It came out exactly how you meant it.”
“She’s an old friend.”
“An old girlfriend.”
Silence.
There it was.
“You knew that too?” he asked.
“The internet exists, Brandon.”
He sighed.
“This is exactly why I didn’t mention it.”
I laughed.
“You hid it because you knew I would have a problem with it, and now you’re using my reaction as the reason you hid it?”
“It’s not like that.”
A woman laughed somewhere behind him.
Then a female voice said, “Brandon, are you coming?”
My whole body went still.
He covered the phone badly.
“One second.”
I whispered, “Is that her?”
“Audrey.”
“Is that Leah?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re going out on the boat.”
Our six-month-old daughter had choked the night before.
I had called him twice.
He never called back.
And now he was going boating with an ex-girlfriend.
“I need to go,” I said.
“Don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
“Turn this into something it isn’t.”
I looked toward the living room.
My father was pacing slowly with June against his chest.
“What is it, Brandon?”
Silence.
Then:
“It’s one weekend where I don’t have to be responsible for everybody.”
That hurt more than Leah.
Because I knew exactly who he meant by everybody.
Me.
Our daughters.
Our family.
“Enjoy your weekend,” I said.
“Audrey—”
I hung up.
Dad came back a minute later.
He looked at my face.
“Bad?”
I nodded.
Then another message arrived.
Not from Brandon.
From a woman named Kelly Mason.
I knew the last name.
She was married to one of Brandon’s college friends.
May you like
Her message contained only one sentence.
Audrey, I’m sorry, but I need to ask—do you know what Brandon has been telling everyone about you?
