Page 11 of The Homewrecker's Fate

We both sat there with our food growing cold, still untouched despite having come into the condo more than twenty minutes ago. “I knew based on those messages that you couldn’t possibly know he was married.”

“Let me guess, it was when he was begging me to move there with him?”

She nodded her confirmation and took a sip of the milkshake she ordered with her food. It had to be thinned out and watery by then. I picked my own up, needing the sugar despite the milkshake no longer being thick as it was when we ordered.

A text message beeped on Mel’s phone, and she glanced down with a smile on her face before shooting one back to whomever it was.

“Brax says he’s keeping the kids overnight.”

“Your brother?” I asked, remembering Rich had called him Uncle Brax at the office. Mel shook her head.

“Braxton and I have been friends since elementary school. He’s like a brother to me.” Her wince said there was more to it. I put two-and-two together, though.

“Rich said something about…” I pointed to her belly.

She laughed. “One night, when Rich came in a day later than he should have after being gone for a week, I confronted him about what I knew.” Mel rubbed her stomach. “I told him the affair was no secret and that I hoped he was happy because Braxton and I had gotten together once, and I realized how much I had been missing by only having been with Rich all these years.”

I sucked in a gasp at that revelation. “He was your first?”

“My only until that stupid, drunken night.” She grinned at me. “It’s good that we were both drunk and don’t remember a lot of the details, because it might have ruined our friendship, and there is no way that I want that to ever happen. I love Brax, but I’ve never been in love with him.”

“I understand. Still, he might be the father of your baby. Doesn’t that change anything?”

“Nothing. It changes nothing. If Brax is the father, he will help take care of our child and we’ll co-parent together beautifully thanks to our life-long friendship. If he isn’t, he will still be my friend and remain Uncle Brax to all my children.”

“It must be nice to have a friend like that.”

“Don’t you have friends here?”

I shook my head. “I went away for college and didn’t bother to keep up with any of my old high school friends. My college friends aren’t near here and the one woman I became close to at work is in a relationship with Cliff…”

“Who knew that Richard was married,” Mel finished for me. “I’m sorry that my husband has made your life so difficult.”

“I’m sorry that my ex-boyfriend has made your life so difficult too,” I teased. We both broke down in a mixture of laughter and tears.

Mel’s weepy blue eyes met mine when we managed to pull ourselves together again. “I want you to know that I consider you a friend in all of this.” She waved her hand at the space we occupied. “No matter what went on, we were both duped. We both came out with something extra,” she offered while glancing down at our protruding bellies. “We both loved a man who never deserved what we gave him.”

“I want you to know that I am truly sorry for my part in that. Had I known…”

She waved off my apology. “Never apologize for what he made of us. He failed his marriage. He failed his relationship with you. His bullshit is not our burden to bear.”

“I admire the hell out of you,” I admitted.

“Well, I admire the hell out of you, too. You are his equal at work, holding your own in a male dominated company, and unwilling to compromise family for a man who wasn’t worthy. You are who I always wanted to be. Somewhere along the way, I allowed him to dictate my life, convince me to give up on my own dreams, and take care of our children and him instead. I have nothing to show for our marriage beyond our children. Starting from scratch is a scary business. I wish that I had been more like you and continued to live my dreams while helping him live his.”

“It’s never too late,” I encouraged.

“Too true.”

Together, we got comfy on my couch and watched a sappy movie that we could both cry to, as if we hadn’t already shed enough tears over what our lives had become. Mel was right. I felt grateful for the career I had, the work I did, the life lived outside of Rich. I also felt much better about putting my mother before Rich’s demand for me move. Had I put him first, the way Mel had, I would have lost everything on top of dealing with my initial heartache over losing the man I thought he was.

The movie was nearing the end when I heard something scratch at my door. It sounded as though someone was trying to stuff a key in the lock. Mel glanced at me, and our eyes met, knowing in that instance exactly who was attempting to enter my home. That sorry bastard was using the key he never returned when he ghosted me.

“He has some nerve,” Mel whispered.

“Seriously. The fact that he thought I wouldn’t change the lock is astounding.”

Fists banged into the door. “Aviva!” Rich yelled my name, slurring it almost as badly as my mother’s post-stroke speech. “Aviva, the door won’t work. Let me in.”

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