Page 50 of Homewrecker

I hung up, then sat in the dark. I promised myself the call wouldn’t happen again. And for a while, it didn’t.

The first time I called him was worse. It was three weeks later and Klair had to go calm my mother down because she found out something that my father did in the past. Apparently, that one had been going on for years with a woman who worked in the same building as my mother.

By nine that night, my mother had called me four times.

First crying, then she was angry. She eventually told me not to worry because “He knows where home is.”

I wanted to scream, but instead, I said, “Okay, Mama.” She was asking me to participate in the lie that coming home erased where he’d been.

When we hung up, I poured wine before I picked up my phone. Klair was my first thought. She would’ve said exactly what I already knew.

They’re grown. That’s their marriage, and stop letting their dysfunction become yours.

He ended up calling my phone anyway, and I nearly threw up.

“What the fuck?”

He laughed. “Hello to you too.”

“No. This is weird.”

“Shit. Blair, I didn’t mean—”

“No. It’s fine.”

“You okay?”

I looked at the wine in my hand. The “No.”

“My mom found out some stuff about my dad’s past with infidelity.”

Caleb exhaled. “Damn.”

“Yeah.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

I took a sip and leaned back. “Once upon a time, he was a big time cheater.”

Caleb said nothing.

“And she stayed. I just don’t understand it.”

I laughed bitterly. “Actually, that’s a lie. I know exactly why she stayed. That’s what makes me so fucking angry.”

“Why?”

“Because she thinks leaving means someone else won.”

I wiped beneath my eye. “I used to think she was weak.”

“Blair.”

“I did.”