Chapter 4

“Was the recording from the wedding not enough?” I asked.

Brooke leaned back against the sofa, her hands folded over her purse. “You heard one part of a private conversation. Of course it sounds bad by itself.”

Grant sat beside her, then seemed to realize how that looked and stood again.

“Mara, we came here to explain. We’re not here to be interrogated.”

“Then start with something simple. Why were you both in my recording studio more than once?”

Grant looked at Brooke.

She held his gaze. “I needed somewhere quiet to record. Grant said you were usually out during the day, and the equipment was already there.”

“What else did he tell you?”

“That you wouldn’t mind.”

“She was recording personal material,” Grant cut in. “I helped with the equipment. Sometimes we talked, and the system saved those conversations too.”

“So the wedding recording was just another casual conversation?”

Grant stepped toward me. “I admit what I said was stupid. I shouldn’t have said you would never leave. But we’ve been married for three years. I thought our relationship could survive one bad joke. How is that unforgivable?”

Brooke looked up at him. “You said more than one bad joke.”

Grant turned on her. “Don’t make this worse.”

“You asked me to come.”

“Because you said Mara deserved to hear your explanation.”

“Then let me finish.”

They began arguing with the ease of people who had done it before.

Brooke knew when Grant was about to interrupt her. Grant knew exactly how to lower his voice when he wanted her to back down.

I waited.

Grant stopped first and faced me again. “Brooke depends on me too much sometimes. We grew up together. It’s hard for me to ignore her when she needs help. That doesn’t mean I want to leave you.”

Brooke’s mouth tightened. “You’re making it sound as if I invented all of this.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.” She looked at me. “Mara, I wasn’t always the one calling him. Sometimes Grant came to me.”

His expression hardened. “You promised you wouldn’t twist this.”

“Because you promised you would handle it.”

Grant insisted Brooke needed too much from him. Brooke insisted Grant had given her hope.

Each explained why the other had crossed the line. Neither admitted that they could have stopped.

“Grant,” I said, cutting through their argument. “Did you ever make Brooke believe our marriage would end?”

“No.”

The answer came too quickly.

Brooke gave a short laugh.

Grant glared at her. “What’s funny?”

“You never used the exact words ‘I’m getting divorced.’” She looked down and adjusted the clasp on her purse. “You only said some marriages are empty long before they officially end.”

“That had nothing to do with her.”

“You said it to her in my recording studio,” I reminded him.

Grant turned back to me. “We had argued that day. I was upset and said something irresponsible. Married people complain about their partners. That isn’t betrayal.”

“How often did you complain about me to her?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Did you kiss her?”

Grant’s shoulders locked.

Brooke avoided my eyes. Her thumb moved back and forth over the metal clasp of her purse.

“No,” Grant said. “We never slept together.”

He had answered a different question.

I turned my laptop toward me and opened the folder containing the six files.

Grant crossed the room. “You said we were going to talk.”

“We are.”

“Then stop playing private recordings. You’ve already heard enough.”

The files were arranged by date. The most recent one had been created three weeks earlier, and its title was different from the rest.

AFTER_SHE_LEAVES

I moved the cursor over it.

Grant braced one hand against the edge of the table. “Mara, don’t play that.”

It was the first time that evening he had admitted there was something he did not want me to hear.

Brooke saw the file name too. She didn’t try to stop me. She only watched Grant.

“Let me explain first,” he said. “It isn’t what you think.”

“You don’t know what I think.”

He reached for the laptop. I pulled it closer.

“Mara, listen to me.”

I pressed play.