Chapter 11 - Melanie
“He changed the password!” I stood up and glared at my husband’s computer. Lily peered over my shoulder and scoffed.
“Damn, he moved fast. We only gave him a few minutes alone.”
“Asshole.” I grumbled and closed it. I was tempted to smash the whole thing, but controlled the impulse. “I’ll figure it out later. Today I need to get the hot tub removed, call a lawyer, and give Griffin the information we were able to gather earlier.”
Lily nodded, her expression thoughtful. “And call your family?”
“No,” I scowled.
“Don’t you think they should know?”
“I’ll tell them when I go back in a week. I just need to get everything sorted first.” I insisted. I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to protect them forever, but Ben had been like a second son to them since we were little.
I thought back to the first time I met him. I was ten years old when Kyle first brought Ben home.
“Mom!” Kyle yelled, and the screen door slammed behind him. I jumped at the loud sound. I was sitting at the kitchen counter watching our mom make an apple pie and was startled by Kyle’s loud entrance. Mom had an exasperated smile on her face as she looked at me and shook her head with a chuckle.
“Kitchen!” She hollered back and went back to pressing a fork into the crust edging and humming to herself.
“Can we set an extra plate for dinner?” he asked as he ran into the kitchen.
“Why?” Mom looked up, surprised.
“I want to bring a friend to dinner.” Kyle scowled. He was a typical grumpy twelve-year-old boy.
“Of course.”
“She said yes.” He yelled as he turned around and faced the doorway.
A few seconds later, a second boy stepped quietly into the kitchen.
He was a little taller than Kyle and had shaggy brown hair, was wearing a well worn pair of jeans, and an anime shirt that had seen better days.
p.a.t.r.e.o.n. O.G. He had a nervous expression on his face, but still walked right up to our mother and stuck out his hand.
“Hello M’am, my name is Benjamin Landon.”
My mother wiped her hands off on her apron and eyed Ben. Whatever she saw in the young boy before her must’ve told her he needed more than a handshake, because instead of shaking his hand, she pulled him into a tight hug.
“It’s nice to meet you, I’m Mrs. Walsh, and you are always welcome at our table.” She slowly started to release him but waited until he made eye contact to fully let go. With a small nod and a big smile, she turned to the sink and washed her hands before returning to the pie.
Ben stood, shocked, for a few seconds and stared at her. I smiled, amused, because Mama had always been good at stumping people.
“I’m Melanie,” I called out, which broke his little trance, and his head pivoted to look at me.
His eyes widened a little as he looked me over. I looked down at my outfit and blushed. I’d forgotten that my hair was still a mess from when I’d tried catching frogs in the stream earlier, and I was still in my muddy jean overalls and a powderpuff girls shirt.
“Don’t worry, she’ll wash up before dinner.” My mother grinned, and I could feel my cheeks heat up even more.
“Mom!” I whined. Kyle rolled his eyes.
“That’s my little sister. She’s two grades behind us.”
“Uh.” Ben cleared his throat, “It’s nice to meet you.” He finally mumbled, but didn’t move any closer.
I nodded but didn’t speak. I hopped off my stool and told Mama I was going to go wash up, and she nodded.
“Your father will be home soon.” She reminded me with an affectionate twinkle in her eye. Mama and Daddy were still DISGUSTINGLY in love.
Ben looked at Kyle with a nervous expression.
I frowned. Why would Daddy's coming home make him nervous?
I looked at Kyle, too, but he was too busy mumbling something to Ben.
Mama watched this exchange with the same intensity as me.
Our eyes finally met, and when she gave a little shrug and a gentle smile, I shrugged back and skipped to my room.
After that, Ben became a regular guest in our home.
He sat for more dinners at our table than at his own.
Kyle and I rarely went to his house, even though he lived on the same street as us, but the times we did, it was just his mom around.
We later found out his dad only came home when he ran out of couches to crash on.
I didn’t meet his father until Ben and Kyle were Juniors in high school, and his father showed up at our house in the middle of a pretty intense Mario Kart tournament.
It only got more intense from the minute we opened the door until the minute the cops drove away with his dad in the backseat while the EMTs praised Ben for his bravery.
I pulled myself back from the memories with a little sigh.
The boy I was remembering was not the man who had over a dozen NDAs hidden in the home he shared with his wife.
I was sure that the boy who had punched his drunk father for stumbling into his best friend's little sister would’ve been just as horrified as I was by the man he became.
“OK. I’ll call around for a hot tub removal while pick a lawyer.” Lily said when she realized I was listening again.
“Sorry, got lost in my thoughts.” I stretched. “It really isn’t fair that he was the one getting laid and I’m the one getting fucked.” I grumbled. Lily cackled.
“Girl, you are NOT going to be the one getting fucked in this divorce.”
“That’s true…” I sighed, “I’m going to miss sex.”
“You’ll have sex again.” Lily rolled her eyes, “just not with someone too stupid to realize what a catch you are. Now, get to finding a lawyer.” She clapped as she spun on her heel and walked out of the room.
How the hell does someone just find a lawyer?
It didn’t take me long to realize that it was probably best to start with the lawyer who wrote up our original prenup. Grandma had hired someone in California, even though she was in North Dakota, so even if they didn’t handle divorces, they would probably know someone who did.
· · ─ ·?· ─ · ·
A quick phone call with Penelope Yang taught me that she was the definition of quirky, but she was also incredibly intelligent.
It turned out the reason Gram picked her was because she handled divorces, too.
She even had a letter stored from Gram for “if my granddaughter ever shows up asking for a divorce.” I wasn’t sure how to feel about how little faith Gram had in our marriage, but there was no point in being angry at someone who wasn’t here to yell at. And had been right.
By some miracle, both the lawyer and the hot tub removal crew said they were available to meet Saturday morning. Lily said she would watch the hot tub guys while I met with the lawyer, which, based on the muscles I’d seen on the three guys as I was running out the door… was a terrible hardship.
· · ─ ·?· ─ · ·
“The prenup is iron clad, if you have proof of the infidelity then it’s an open and shut case.” Penelope assured me as she shuffled through some paperwork. “Your Gram spared no expenses to make sure that you were able to walk away unscathed.”
Gram’s letter had explained that she had been married once before Grandpa.
The man had been abusive, and because there wasn’t a prenup when she tried to leave him, he was able to strong-arm her into signing away her portion of the business they’d run together.
A business that he sold a few years later for an absurd amount of money.
Her letter explained that she liked Ben and wished us well, but that she never trusted a man until he earned that trust.
I was slightly relieved she wasn’t here to see that her trust had been wrongly placed. The thought that he had tricked that wonderful woman made me even angrier at Ben.
“I have proof, and I have a guy working on getting me more proof.” I assured her. I handed her my cell phone with the album full of NDAs open and watched as her eyebrows continued to climb into her hairline.
“You don’t need more.” She scoffed. “The man is an idiot. Some of these NDAs don’t even have his real name listed, they ‘d never hold up in front of a judge.”
“He really had legal documents written in a fake name?” I asked incredulously.
“Yeah… and he had you listed as Melissa on those. How on earth would someone enforce “don’t speak to Melissa” when your name is Melanie?" She snorted and shook her head. “Ahhh, because he hired Gatti.” She slid the phone back towards me with an amused look on her face.
“Is Gatti bad?” I asked with a little frown. Ben always said he’d hired the best lawyer because he was dealing with high-profile clients.
“He’s a bottom line kind of guy. He doesn’t care what his clients are asking for as long as he gets paid. So if Ben was adamant that he didn’t want to give his legal name to some of the girls, Frank wouldn’t have fought him. He’d just bill him.”
“Oh… I wonder what other legal documents Frank Gatti has charged for that wouldn’t hold up in court?” I pondered as I tried to remember what kind of contracts Ben had said Gatti drafted for him. “Is he a good financial lawyer at least?”
Penelope stared at me, and her eyebrows furrowed.
“I don’t think so… he’s a jack of all personal disasters.” She shrugged, “I could see him drafting up financial contracts that weren’t necessarily legal.”
“Jesus…” I mumbled. Griffin was going to love this.
“I need to talk to the guy you have investigating your husband. I know you already told your husband you know about his affairs but he can’t know you met with me quite yet.
I want to be fully prepared before we serve him.
I don’t want to discover after he signs that he had a secret offshore account that we could’ve gone after.
” Penelope was writing on the inside flap of my folder.
“He definitely has offshore accounts.”
“Proof?” She didn’t bother looking up.
“Not yet.” I admitted.
“Alright, get proof.” She looked up at me and offered me a reassuring smile. Every bit of evidence increases the strength of your claim and might result in extra money, but we already have enough to enact the infidelity clause, so please don’t stress about this.”
I nodded and looked around her office again.
“Let’s agree to meet again in a week, if your guy can’t join us then I want to do a conference call in four days with him.” She instructed me, and I nodded. I was starting to feel like a Barbie doll in my own skin.
Now that the worst of the surprises was over, I felt like I was putting on the performance of a lifetime, and I hated it.
Soon. This will all be done soon.