“Honey,” Marion said, and her voice went hard. “A second phone and a studio he didn’t tell you about? Come on.”
“He said the overtime is down.”
“They always say the overtime is down. Do you know how many times I heard that before Danny left?”
“Marion.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just saying. Get a lawyer’s number. Don’t confront him until you have your ducks in a row.”
I hung up sicker than before.
I picked up my own phone and typed a message to Brandon.
My fingers were shaking.
“I found the studio listing. And the second phone. Don’t come home Sunday. Don’t come home at all.”
I hit send before I could take it back.
My phone rang almost immediately.
I stared at his name on the screen.
I let it ring four times before I picked up.
He was crying. I had been married to this man for seven years, and I had never once heard him cry.
“Cece. Please. Please just wait until I get home. I’m begging you. It is not what you think.”
“Then tell me what it is.”
“Not on the phone. Please. Not like this.”
“Brandon.”
“I love you. I love you and Alex more than anything in this world. Please just let me come home and say it to your face.”
I couldn’t answer him. I hung up.
I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the hallway floor. I didn’t try to be quiet about the crying anymore, and somewhere down the hall I heard Alex’s door creak open.
Small footsteps padded toward me.
Alex stood a few feet away in his dinosaur pajamas, hair sticking up on one side. He was holding one of the forks in his fist like a sword.
“Mommy? Why are you crying?”
“I’m okay, baby. Go back to bed.”
