The Crashing Waves | COMPLETED

Chapter 19: The Secret

I sat on that beach trying to breathe for hours.  My whole body felt bruised and broken, my face was throbbing from the tears, and the waves seemed to be crashing into the sand as hard as my heart was pounding in my chest.  The clouds eventually closed in and the sun went away as the the rain began to fall as if the sky was mirroring my feelings.  By the time I could regain a small portion of my composure, I was soaking wet from head to toe.  I got up and walked slowly back to the house.  I looked up at the dark house and stopped before I continued on the path to the back door.  The patio was cleaned up and everything put away, and a single light in the kitchen was on inside the house.  My stomach sunk again knowing that even though I told him to leave, a part of me was really sad that TJ was clearly gone.  But what that letter held was cruel.  And I didn't know if I could ever forgive him.... Or Brody for that matter.

I walked into the house and walked straight to my room to change into dry clothes.  When I came out I looked into the room that TJ had been staying in.  The bed was made neatly, and everything of his was gone.  There was a note on the bed, but I didn't have any desire to hear what he had to say, so I walked back to the kitchen without another glance.  The dishes were all clean and put away, and the entire house was cleaned from top to bottom.  It was eerily silent and while I tried to come to terms with the fact that I was again all alone, I grabbed my phone and called the only person I knew I could vent to in that moment.

As soon as the phone picked up, I whispered through the tears that had again started to fall, "Brooke, I need you.  Please... Can you come?"

"Cami, what is going on?"  She was always concerned about me and she showed it.  She stayed silent waiting for my response.

I didn't know how to respond.  I felt as if the whole just fell around me again.  I wasn't sure I was going to make it through this time.  "It was awful.  The things he said.  It was all fake.  How could I trust them?  Either of them?  How could I be so stupid?"  I was sobbing and I was just glad that Brooke knew me well enough to be able to decipher my words.

She took a deep breathe before speaking again, "Cam, you gotta start from the beginning.  What is going on?"

I slowly started to replay the letter in my head to share it with her.  It hurt so bad saying it out loud because that made it all real.  But she needed to know so she would understand it all.  I explained how I found the letter sitting in the chair when he got up and how I noticed the handwriting as Brody's.  I repeated the words I saw:

"I'm dying."

"There's money in an account for you."

"Take care of Cami and the money is yours."

"It'll be easier if you just let her to fall in love with you."

"You owe me and you're the only one I trust enough to do this."

"Take the money and just keep her happy."

"And don't let anything tarnish my reputation when I'm gone."

"No one can know I'm paying you to do this. Especially Cami."

I told her how the letter made it sound like our whole marriage was a joke; something that he didn't really care about because how else could he pay someone to step in like that? And that TJ was apparently meant to step in and take over like I couldn't be trusted on my own.

The words were burnt into my head.  Who was that person?  Because that couldn't be my husband.  That was not Brody.  What is the real story that I've been left out of?  And why would TJ keep something like that in his pocket?  None of it made sense.