Her Husband's Favorite Guest novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: What He Said at the Gate

I kept my hand on the gate latch and did not open it.

"You were going to tell me," Brandon said. "Wednesday night. At dinner."

"Yes."

"And I walked in at one in the morning smelling like a bar."

"Yes."

He put the roses down on the wet grass, because his arms were no longer steady enough to hold them.

"Lydia, I would have cried. I swear it. Five years, and every time you came home from that clinic with your face closed, I wanted to say..." His voice broke. "I didn't know how to be someone who deserved it."

"You were someone who could pull my cousin onto his lap."

"I know."

"You let me stand in the wings and watch."

"I know."

"Say why."

He stared at me.

"I want you to say why, Brandon. Not 'I was panicking.' Not 'it was a bit.' You erased me from your photos. You gave away my seat. You told five thousand people I was sick. Tell me why."

He opened his mouth.

For a second I thought he would.

Something crossed his face, hard and fast and frightened, and then it closed.

"I can't," he said.

"You can't."

"If I say it, I lose you. And I'm going to lose you anyway, but if I say it, I lose the babies too."

I felt the words land low in my stomach.

"That is not an answer."

"It's the only one I have." He pressed his palms against his eyes. "Lyd, please. Come home. I'll sleep in the guest room. I'll cancel everything. I'll fix it."

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