The Good Father

Wasn’t? Or he didn’t want it to be?

He could control his own emotions. His own heart.

He couldn’t control hers.

Still... “Chloe has seen me and Ella. She knows there’s no chance of us getting back together,” he said.

“It’s far-fetched, I agree. But I know for certain that she staged that time with the two of you in the boat with Cody. I was heading up front to watch Cody and she pulled me back. Wanted me to give you two time alone with him.”

Chloe really thought she could get him and Ella back together?

The whole idea was preposterous.

And Jeff was completely side-stepping the fact that his wife was flinging accusations—serious allegations—around that could put him in a certainly uncomfortable and possibly life-damaging situation.

A memory of the report he’d relayed to Ella sprang to mind, the one pertaining to a fifteen-year-old sister accusing her older brother...

Sometimes people were emotionally confused. Not thinking clearly.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Jeff said. “I think Chloe left for th

e exact reasons she says she did. I was angry and acted out of turn. With everything else she’s obviously going through, it was too much for her. But then you and Ella came to the rescue and maybe she’s seen an added benefit to our time apart.”

Good God, could Jeff be right? Or was he really in denial as Ella thought? And so far gone that he’d concoct a seemingly positive reason for his wife’s continued absence.

Unless...could it be the way Jeff thought? That Chloe was struggling, but could also see an upside to her time with Ella?

Was she trying to help Ella while she helped herself?

Did Ella know?

She couldn’t possibly know.

She didn’t want him.

She’d made that quite clear.

He’d made certain she wouldn’t.

She’d hardly looked at or spoken to him all day.

“So, will you talk to my sister and get her off Chloe’s back so I can have a night with my wife? I swear, I’ll do all I can to get the truth out of her and hand it to you on a plate for breakfast.”

“I don’t expect you to make me breakfast,” Brett said, his mind reeling. “But yes, because I owe you and want your family home with you and happy, I’ll talk to Ella.”

After all, he was a man experienced at digging his own grave.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ELLA COULDN’T SLEEP. She’d never slept in a room with a little one and, although she needed to toss and turn because she couldn’t get comfortable, she lay stiffly, afraid of waking Cody.

She couldn’t leave the room because Brett was right outside her door, sleeping on the couch in the living room. The only other room in the cabin, other than a bathroom and the bedroom currently occupied by her brother and sister-in-law.

And God, she hoped Chloe wasn’t making a mistake. Would she, after spending a night in her husband’s arms, be strong enough to leave him in the morning?

Chloe had said that, on the contrary, it would be easier to leave him if she had that bonding to hold on to. If they could share some kind of personal closeness in the midst of the turmoil.

She’d also said that she hoped sleeping with her would remind Jeff how valuable their relationship was to both of them, how much they loved each other and maybe spur him to seek help more quickly. She’d thought lovemaking would bring him to his senses.