Chapter 15
Steam curled around me in the shower, washing away the dust from the trail but not the thoughts circling in my head.
Chase’s quiet concern. Brody’s offhand confession about his ex.
It left me raw in a way I didn’t want to examine too closely.
By the time I stepped out, my skin pink from the heat, I felt wrung out. I padded to my childhood room, towel-dried my hair, and pulled on leggings and an old sweatshirt. Through my window, I caught sight of Mason’s car pulling into the driveway.
A moment later, Mom appeared on the front porch with a warm smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. Jackson bounded toward her, backpack bouncing. I cracked my window enough to hear Mom say, “Hey buddy, let’s run out and grab a few things for dinner, okay?”
Jackson didn’t even question it; he just waved to his dad before following her to the car.
I was halfway down the hall when I heard them.
Clara and Mason.
“I told you, Mason, if she comes near Jackson...”
“Clara...”
“You need to get rid of her, Mason.” Clara’s voice was low but sharp, every syllable honed to a point.
I froze halfway to the stairs, the wood cool against my bare feet. My chest tightened.
Mason’s voice was lower, as if he knew someone might be listening. “You’re overreacting. She’s great at her job. I don’t have time to train someone new.”
Clara let out a laugh, sharp and humourless. “So you’re choosing your whore? The twenty-year-old who’s been spreading rumours about you fucking her since the week she started?”
“That’s not...”
“You take her to lunches she has no business being at. Business trips she doesn’t need to attend. You buy her gifts. But you don’t think you’ve crossed any lines?”
“I haven't crossed any lines, Clara.”
She laughed, but it sounded cold and distant. “At minimum, it’s an emotional affair. At most...”
“It’s not cheating. I am not cheating.”
“You don’t believe emotional affairs are a thing because it’s convenient not to. But you’re blind if you think what you’ve done isn’t betrayal.”
Mason’s voice tightened. “You’re overreacting. It is not what you think.”
Clara’s reply cut clean. “She is telling everyone who will listen how good your cock feels, Mason... SHE is the problem, not me... not your wife who you supposedly love... how would you feel if the roles were reversed?"
"Clara, I will talk to her, but you need to calm down and come home... I didn't cheat on you."
"Really, Mason, because I don't remember agreeing to an open marriage."
"I didn't fucking cheat on you with her or anyone else..."
"If she ever comes near Jackson, if I find out she is anywhere near him, in the home that is supposed to be ours... I’ll take you to court, I will go for full custody, and I’ll win. Don’t test me.”
"Clara, don't do this..."
"You are the one who did this, Mason, and are the one who continues to do this."
A pause. The creak of the porch boards. Then Mason muttered something I couldn’t catch before the front door opened and snapped closed.
Dinner was an exercise in pretending.
Mom and Dad wore careful smiles, keeping the conversation light for Jackson, who chattered about school. Clara picked at her food, and I found myself doing the same. Mason was long gone, but the shadow of him echoed in the house.
Later, after Jackson was tucked into bed and the house had gone quiet, I curled up on the daybed outside, the night air cool against my cheeks. The crickets were loud enough to almost drown out my thoughts. Almost.
The screen door squeaked, and then Clara was there, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. She slid under mine without asking, tucking her cold feet against my legs like she used to when we were little.
“How much did you hear?” she asked softly.
“Enough,” I said, not surprised she knew. “How are you?”
She let out a long, shaky breath. “Angry. Tired. Embarrassed. All of it.”
I stayed quiet, letting her choose her own pace.
“Mason cheated,” she said finally. “Or… no. He’d say he didn’t.
At the minimum, it is an emotional affair.
At worst…” She trailed off. “I’ll never know for sure.
He won’t admit to anything physical. But she’s twenty.
His personal assistant. And he refuses to fire her.
Says she’s the best he’s ever had. Says it’s not worth training someone new. ”
Her mouth twisted like the words tasted bitter. “Meanwhile, the rumour mill’s been churning since she started. People talk. I’m not an idiot. And it’s not just the rumours. It’s the way she looks at him. The way she’s always there. Dinner. Lunch. Trips. Gifts.”
My throat was tight. “Clara…”
She shook her head. “He says he can’t live without me, but everything he does says he’s already chosen her.
That I am not worth the effort of hiring someone new and training them.
.. I told him if she gets anywhere near Jackson, I’ll fight for full custody, and I’ll win.
” She paused for a moment and then let out a rough breath, "Sometimes I wonder if he only married me because I got pregnant in school. "
"No, Clara, No. I don't know what happened, but I do know that he married you because he loved you. Everyone could see it."
"I used to believe that too... but now I don't know..." She whispered.
"You must hate me," I choked out.
Clara turned her face to mine, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I could never hate you, Cassidy. Our situations are not the same. I know that... do you?"
I couldn't answer her because I felt hollow and horrible.
Her eyes were shiny in the dim light. “Guess we’ve both become the women waiting for someone to choose us.”
Something inside me ached at that. “Guess we have.”
"I just..." Clara turned her face back to the stars, "I don't know how we got here.
He has changed. He is not the man I married, nor is he the boy I fell in love with.
It is like the more he got, the more he wanted.
.. the more he changed. I don't understand how he can't see that what he is doing is wrong.
.. why can't he see that he's hurting me? "
We didn’t say anything else for a long time, just lay there together, the blanket warm over us, the cool air brushing our cheeks, two sisters bound by blood, heartbreak, and the knowledge that sometimes love wasn't enough and sometimes it didn’t just fail you.
It betrayed you.