The Longer The Fall, Aviva Gat [top 10 books to read txt] 📗

it must be freaking weird for you,” Brandon continued. “Like, I know some of what’s going on here, but not all. And you, well, I don’t even know how much you know. Maybe you know less than me. Maybe you know more. I don’t know.”

“I’m not really sure what you mean,” Rhonda responded. She took a second bite of the soufflé. “I’m just enjoying the dessert.” She smiled, trying to keep a light tone. Rhonda didn’t like confrontations or tense situations. They made her anxious, and sometimes she’d get attacks. If she had ever seen a psychologist, they might have said she had PTSD, but she had never been diagnosed. Truthfully, she was enjoying the evening. She had never been to such a nice restaurant and she liked feeling like she was mingling with the one percent. It gave her a taste of what she believed Hunter had given up when he and Madeline broke up.

“Hunter, you can be straight with me, dude,” Brandon said quietly. In fact the whole conversation was so quiet, that from afar it would appear the group was still having a friendly conversation about a serious topic. “What’s going on with you and Madeline?”

Hunter shook his head. Madeline’s heart began to pound. Here it was. The turning point where things could go either way. “I’m working for her,” Hunter said coolly. “To pass the SAVER Bill.”

“And you’re OK with that Rhonda?” Brandon said as though Hunter had just said something totally different.

“Sure,” she said. “I mean, it’s whatever.”

“It’s whatever,” Brandon repeated, nodding his head. “That’s a great endorsement. And you believe that’s all it is? Working together?”

Rhonda looked at her husband and then at Madeline. She had accused her husband of cheating multiple times during fights and heated lack-of-sleep induced arguments, but she had never actually believed it was a true possibility. Not Hunter. Not the man who dated a woman like Madeline before her.

“Brandon,” Hunter said before his wife could give an answer. “What are you trying to do here?” He rubbed his wife’s shoulder with his arm that was already around her and grabbed her hand with his free one. He had just started to get back on Rhonda’s good side and that was a place he really wanted to be.

“Just want to get to the truth. We all deserve that, don’t we? Rhonda, don’t you want the truth?”

She thought about it and the answer was that she wasn’t sure. Was truth the most important thing? Honestly, she was happy to be back with Hunter. She had left him in a flurry of impulsive anger and her stubbornness had stopped her from going back. But she didn’t like being alone. She liked Hunter back, even if he was just on the couch. She wasn’t sure she could go through another breakup with Hunter. Her mental state was not strong enough. So, she thought again to herself, did she want to know the truth if it could ruin her marriage? Did she prefer to just assume that she had no reason to doubt Hunter?

“I’m going to go to the bathroom,” she said. She stood up and left the table. After a moment of silence, Madeline too stood up.

“I’ll check on her to see if she’s OK.” She shot Brandon a look. “You should cool down in the meantime.” She followed Rhonda to the bathroom and waited by the sinks until a toilet flushed and Rhonda opened the stall door.

“I’m sorry about Brandon,” she said as Rhonda washed her hands.

“No, it’s cool,” she responded intuitively even as her mind was telling her it was definitely not cool. “I can understand him.”

“You know that me and Hunter are over and that there is nothing going on between us,” Madeline said while placing her hand on Rhonda’s shoulder. “He is a good man.”

“I know,” she responded while drying her hands. That seemed to be enough for Rhonda. She had no evidence of the otherwise, she had not seen the pictures from the blackmail, nor had she ever had any clues of Hunter’s infidelity.

Madeline ached to get back to the table, afraid of what was being said in her absence. But as the women approached, the sight was strange and unexpected. Both men were leaning back, looking relaxed, smiling and sipping their aperitifs.

“Did we miss anything?” Madeline asked, wary of the answer. She sat back down in her seat.

“No, all’s good,” Brandon responded and even gave her hand a little squeeze. The couples finished their drinks over discussions of their children and everyone seemed to be in a good mood once again. The atmosphere pricked Madeline, who was unsure what this complete turnaround meant.

When the check came, Brandon insisted on paying and the couples walked out together to their cars. With hugs and kisses on the cheek, they said goodbye and parted.

“Did you enjoy the evening?” Madeline asked Brandon as they got in the car.

“I did.” He rubbed her knee as he pulled the car out of the parking lot.

“What did you and Hunter talk about when Rhonda and I were in the bathroom?”

Brandon took his eyes from the road for a moment to give Madeline a grin. “He told me everything.”

Chapter 42

When Madeline followed Rhonda to the bathroom, Brandon felt victorious. That was exactly what he wanted, a few minutes alone with Hunter. “All right,” he said. “I’m surprised at you. You know I could have ratted you out when this whole thing started.”

“But you wouldn’t do that,” Hunter responded, taking a sip of his drink. “That would have incriminated you as well.”

The truth was that Brandon had had an inkling about his wife’s infidelity for what felt like a very long time. Well, it was more than just an inkling, he felt that he had all the evidence, he just wanted a confession. It had