Page 44 of Mountain Refuge

“Tyler was still in the shower after getting home from work. That was why I had picked up his phone. When I saw that message, I opened his phone and clicked on the text. There was an entire thread of messages going back a while, including nude pictures and even a sex video. I couldn’t believe it. Ididn’tbelieve it. I was so sure it was a prank of some sort. Tyler wouldnotcheat on me. It was impossible.

“But then I saw a picture of the girl’s face, and it was like a final nail being driven into the coffin. It wasn’t some random girl that I didn’t know. It was mysister.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

I nodded, confirming, “My sister, mybest friend, was having an affair with my husband.”

“My God, Brooke. I’m so sorry. What did you do?”

“That day? Nothing. I took pictures of the text thread, returned the phone to where it was on the counter, and went back to cooking dinner. I was in shock. A part of me wanted to demand answers, but another part knew that it didn’t matter. Nothing Kate or Tyler did or said would ever make it right. My relationship with both was over. Tyler and I would never reconcile, and Kate and I would never be friends or sisters again.”

“I can’t even fathom how you felt. Weren’t there signs? Like he was home late from work or had a business trip out of town?”

I shook my head. “That was what made it so hard for me to accept. I was a fuckingdetectiveand I had no idea my husband wascheatingon me? But, to this day, I swear there wereno signs, nothing. I had no odd occurrences or wife’s intuition about any of it. He was attentive and loving as he’d always been, and we still had an active sex life. I couldn’t remember seeing Kate and him acting differently around each other either. I had caught no lingering looks or touches between them. And we got together regularly, the three of us. So it wasn’t like they never saw each other outside of holiday family gatherings. She was always over to our house and we were always over at hers.

“The next day, Tyler went off to work and I called in sick to work. The first thing I did was call a divorce lawyer. I had no idea who to choose, so I honestly just went with the first one that came up in Google. My lawyer gave me steps on what to do next. It would take some time to process the paperwork and serve him. First thing, I needed to separate our accounts. We didn’t have any separate accounts other than the trust that was left to me by my grandmother. He knew about it, but we’d never touched it, thinking we could use it to remodel the kitchen or build an entertainment patio out back. I had to go to the bank and take my name off the joint accounts. I split everything down the middle, fifty-fifty.

“Then I went to see the attorney in person. I gave her the pictures I took of the text thread, including the blown-up picture of my naked sister on his phonein my bed.”

“Jesus…”

“Then I went home and packed. I took all my clothes, jewelry, and toiletries. By the time Tyler came home that day, I was on my way to my parents’ house. Kate had tried calling me earlier in the day, but I ignored it. My lawyer warned me not toblock Kate or Tyler until the divorce was finalized because any admissions or accusations they sent to me could be used against Tyler in the proceedings.

“It was around dinner time when I arrived at my parents’ house. They welcomed me in and that was when I collapsed. I told them everything, including that it was Kate whom he was having the affair with. My dad was outraged, but not for the reason you would think. Kate was the youngest, the baby, and a real daddy’s girl. She could, and did, get away with anything in my father’s eyes.

“My dad actually accusedmeof staging the text thread to get Kate into trouble. Like we were five and I was trying to get her grounded.”

“That’s fucked up.” Elijah stood up, clearly outraged on my behalf. “You’re his daughter too! And the facts were right there in front of the man. You had the evidence!”

I nodded. “He didn’t care. He told me that if I chose to divorce Tyler over ‘this little incident’ that was my choice, but he did not support it. Then my mom put the icing right on the proverbial disaster that was now my life. She actually told me that if I had just given Tyler the babies he’d asked me for, he wouldn’t have strayed.”

Elijah lowered his head. “Goddamn.”

“I went to my parents for support, and I got spit on. So I left. I’d just checked into a hotel when Kate started blowing up my phone. When I didn’t pick up, she started texting. Calling me a bitch and a liar. Telling me that it was my fault all this happened anyway. That I wasn’t woman enough to hold onto a man like Tyler.

“Per my lawyer’s instructions, I didn’t respond to any messages and took screenshots of each one as they came in. Then Tyler’s messages started to come in. Clearly, someone had told him I knew about the affair or he’d come hometo find all my things gone from the house. He demanded to know where I was, apologized, and begged for forgiveness. He claimed it had only happened once, but I knew that wasn’t true because of how far back the text messages went. Also, Kate had already thrown it in my face that they’d been fucking behind my back for months and I never knew. My personal favorite of his excuses as to why he had the affair was because he was a man, and all men cheat.”

“Well, that’s a load of shit. My parents have been happily married for forty-four years and my dad’s never even looked at another woman.”

I agreed. Cheating was a choice, not a biologically driven action. “At that point, I’d had enough. Not wanting to deal with it anymore, I put my phone on silent and went to bed. I had to figure out what I was going to tell my boss in the morning, what I was going to do with the house, our belongings, our entireliveswere mixed together. Tyler had been the first and only man I’d loved, and he’d taken my heart and ripped it right out of my chest. Then he gave it to my sister to stomp on with one of her ridiculously high heeled shoes.”

Elijah sat back down next to me. He wasn’t any calmer. Frankly, neither was I. Rehashing all of this was dredging up all those old feelings of heartache and betrayal.

“I hope you understand now why honesty is so important to me, Elijah. You have one shot,” I held up a finger for emphasis, “one chance. One lie—well intended or not—and we’re done. I’m not going through what Kate and Tyler put me through again. I came out here to bealone. The affair divided my family. It killed my marriage. Friends chose sides and it was like a war line was being drawn. Tyler refused to sign the divorce papers for months. He dragged the proceedings on and on, claiming I too was having an affair. Once that was disproven, the judge granted me the divorce against Tyler’s very loud wishes.

“The straw that broke the camel’s back though was at Thanksgiving that year. I had told my mother that I wasn’t going to come to the family meal unless Kate wasn’t going to be there. My mother swore Kate was not. I went. Then Kate walked through the door with Tyler on her arm.”

“Fuck,” Elijah breathed out. “Now I know how Corbin felt when I told him my story. This is like an emotional rollercoaster when you’re sitting on the other side of it. What an asshole, both of them.”

I let out a wry laugh. “Wasn’t exactly an easy ride living through it either. My mother didn’t understand why I was so angry or why I insisted on leaving as soon as I’d seen the happy couple. I was on my way out the door when I heard Kate announce, proudly and happily, that she was pregnant. Suddenly, it didn’t matter anymore if I was present or not, I realized I’d become chopped liver to my entire family. My brother and his wife didn’t try to stop me from leaving. My father was over the moon and my mother immediately stopped her argument against my departure. Kate was once more the center of attention, standing there so proudly with my ex-husband. And my family saw nothing wrong with any of it.

“I left and immediately started researching how to get away. I needed to escape, even if some might consider it cowardly. I saw a post about mountain life, and I was hooked. I took the money from the settlement, plus my trust fund from my grandmother, and built my cabin. I’ve been here ever since.”

“And your family’s never tried to find you?”

“I have an email account that I communicate with my mother on. If I didn’t have at least that, she would file a missing persons report on me. Jack sometimes emails her for me when I can’t get off the mountain or when I just don’t feel like dealing with her. I don’t think she’s sorry for the way she acted. I truly believe that she thinks I overreacted and abandonedthem.”

“I can’t believe how they turned their backs on you. Kate was clearly in the wrong.”

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