Chapter 2 - “How Many Times Has He Been Here?”Melanie started crying before Landon even asked the first question.
He hated that.
Not because he wanted her emotionless.
Because tears immediately made part of him want to comfort her.
Eight years of marriage did not disappear simply because a closet door opened.
His body still remembered loving her.
That felt like betrayal too.
“Landon…”
“How many times?”
She wiped her face.
“What?”
“How many times has my brother been in this room?”
Wyatt stepped forward.
“This isn’t something Eli should hear.”
Landon laughed once.
Sharp.
Empty.
“Thank you for the parenting advice.”
“Landon.”
“Don’t say my name like we’re having a disagreement.”
Wyatt stopped.
Landon pointed toward the closet.
“You were hiding in there.”
Nobody answered.
He looked at Melanie.
“How many times?”
“It’s complicated.”
“No.”
His voice stayed quiet.
“That’s what people say when the simple answer makes them look terrible.”
Melanie’s lower lip trembled.
Landon stared at her.
“Once?”
Silence.
“Five times?”
Nothing.
“A year?”
Wyatt said:
“Let her talk.”
Landon turned.
“You don’t get to protect my wife from me.”
Wyatt’s expression hardened slightly.
“She’s not property.”
Landon’s eyes changed.
“Interesting time to discover principles.”
Melanie stepped between them.
“Stop.”
Landon backed away.
Not because she asked.
Because Eli was downstairs.
He would not let his son hear fists hitting walls.
He would not become another problem for Eli to understand.
“Tell me.”
Melanie looked toward the floor.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“When?”
She hesitated.
“Two months ago.”
Wyatt looked at her.
Landon saw it.
A glance.
Small.
But wrong.
He turned toward his brother.
“Is that true?”
Wyatt said nothing.
“Wyatt.”
“It started before that.”
Melanie spun around.
“What are you doing?”
Landon felt cold.
“How long?”
Wyatt looked directly at him.
“Fourteen months.”
Melanie’s face collapsed.
Landon stared.
Fourteen months.
Not one mistake.
Not one drunken night.
Fourteen months of dinners.
Birthdays.
Christmas.
His son’s first-grade orientation.
Family barbecues.
Thanksgiving at their mother’s old lake house.
All while Wyatt could sit across from Landon and know what his brother did not.
Melanie whispered:
“You promised.”
Wyatt looked at her.
“He asked.”
“You promised me.”
Landon laughed again.
“You two had rules?”
Melanie covered her face.
Landon stared at his brother.
“Fourteen months?”
“Yes.”
“In my house?”
Wyatt hesitated.
Landon already had the answer.
“How many times in my house?”
“Landon—”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Try.”
Melanie spoke.
“Not every time.”
Landon turned toward her.
He almost couldn’t process the sentence.
Not every time.
As if that helped.
“Hotels?”
She nodded.
“His apartment?”
Another nod.
Landon felt physically ill.
He sat at the edge of a chair.
Then immediately stood again when he realized it faced the bed.
Their bed.
He couldn’t look at it.
“Why?”
Melanie cried harder.
“That’s not something I can explain in one sentence.”
“Try.”
“We were bad.”
“What?”
“You and me.”
Landon stared.
“Our marriage had been bad.”
“You mean busy?”
“You were never here.”
“I came home every night.”
“After eight.”
“I worked.”
“You always worked.”
“For us.”
She shook her head.
“You keep saying that like it turns absence into love.”
The sentence hurt because it contained truth.
But truth did not cancel betrayal.
Landon looked at Wyatt.
“And you?”
Wyatt leaned against the dresser.
“I’m not going to pretend this happened because you worked late.”
“Good.”
“I knew what I was doing.”
Melanie looked at him.
“Wyatt.”
“What?”
“You said—”
“I’m done lying.”
Landon almost moved toward him.
He stopped himself.
“Why my wife?”
Wyatt’s jaw shifted.
“Because I loved her.”
Melanie looked up.
Landon felt as if the room had tilted.
“You love her?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
Wyatt’s eyes moved toward Melanie.
She looked away.
Something older existed between them.
Landon saw it.
His stomach dropped again.
“What?”
Neither answered.
Landon stepped closer.
“What am I missing?”
Melanie whispered:
“We knew each other before you.”
He stared.
“How?”
Wyatt looked at her.
“Tell him.”
Melanie shook her head.
“You tell me.”
Landon’s voice became almost calm.
“When did you know my brother?”
Melanie sat on the bed.
The bed.
Landon hated that too.
“Ten years ago.”
He stopped breathing.
He and Melanie had met nine years ago.
“Before me.”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
She looked toward Wyatt.
Landon didn’t need the answer.
“No.”
Melanie began:
“It wasn’t serious.”
Landon turned away.
“Jesus Christ.”
“It ended.”
“You slept with my brother before you ever met me?”
“Yes.”
“And neither of you thought to mention that?”
Wyatt said:
“It was a few weeks.”
Landon looked at him.
“You introduced us.”
Wyatt’s face tightened.
“I know.”
The memory came back.
A charity fundraiser.
Wyatt bringing a friend to a rooftop party.
Melanie.
Landon had thought meeting her was an accident.
It hadn’t been.
“You knew.”
Wyatt nodded.
“You knew exactly who she was when you introduced us.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Wyatt looked at Melanie.
She whispered:
“Because we were done.”
Landon stared at them.
“And now?”
No answer.
He walked toward the bedroom door.
Melanie stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To get Eli.”
“Landon, please.”
He unlocked the door.
“Do not follow me.”
“You can’t just take him.”
Landon turned.
“Watch me.”
Melanie flinched.
He immediately regretted the threat.
So he corrected it.
“I am his father. I’m taking him out of this house tonight because I will not make him listen to us destroy each other.”
Melanie cried.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Please don’t keep him from me.”
“I won’t.”
That surprised her.
Landon continued:
“I’m angry at you. I’m not using our son to punish you.”
Wyatt looked away.
Landon noticed.
“Something funny?”
“No.”
“Then why that face?”
Wyatt hesitated.
“Nothing.”
Landon stared.
His instincts were different now.
Every hesitation mattered.
“What are you not telling me?”
Wyatt shook his head.
“Not tonight.”
Landon’s anger surged.
“Not tonight?”
Melanie suddenly stepped toward Wyatt.
“Stop.”
Landon looked between them.
“Stop what?”
“Nothing.”
“Melanie.”
She became pale.
Landon’s mind moved to the ugliest place it could.
He thought of Eli.
Six years old.
Wyatt knowing him from birth.
Wyatt at every birthday.
Wyatt teaching him to throw a baseball.
Landon whispered:
“No.”
Melanie’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Landon looked at Wyatt.
Then her.
“Is Eli mine?”
Melanie’s expression transformed from fear into shock.
“Oh my God.”
“Answer me.”
“Yes!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
Wyatt spoke immediately.
“Landon, Eli is yours.”
Landon stared at him.
The certainty bothered him.
“How would you know?”
May you like
Wyatt’s face changed.
And suddenly Landon realized he had just asked a question none of them were prepared to answer.
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