Without saying anything else to Eden, Mel strode around the house to the garden at the back. Bess followed her, her tail wagging with a little less confidence than usual. Mel knew how she felt. She’d never felt so unsettled in her life. She felt shaky. A little beaten up by Eden’s words. Later, she knew she’d need to indulge in some uncomfortable self-reflection but for now she just wanted to get to the truth.

Her husband and her brother were sprawled on the grass, beer in hand, deep in conversation.

“Greg?” The tone of her voice made him look up. “I need you to take a walk.”

“A walk? Now?” He frowned and sat up. “I’m happy sitting here with—”

“You’re going to take a walk on your own, and you’re going to be gone for fifteen minutes.”

“That’s very specific. Why fifteen minutes?”

“Because that’s how long it’s going to take to say what I need to say to Nate and then calm down afterward.”

Greg sighed and stood up.

“What?” Nate sat up. “You’re seriously going to do what she says? What happened to brotherhood?”

“It takes second place to a little thing called marriage. Also, I call this de-escalation tactics.”

“I call it cowardice,” Nate muttered as he watched his friend retreat. Resigned to the inevitable, he turned his gaze onto his sister. “It seems you’ve got something to say.”

“Too right I’ve got something to say. Several things. Stand up.”

“Jeez, Mel—”

“Nate Monroe, you’re going to stand up right now!”

He sighed and stood. “What?”

“I discovered an interesting fact tonight.” She didn’t say how or where she’d discovered it. She didn’t want Eden in the middle of this. “About you and Joanna.”

His expression turned wary. “Mel—”

“I never understood why she ghosted me. After everything we’d been through together, all those years, such a long friendship—I could never figure it out. She dumped you, but she also dumped me, and I couldn’t make sense of that. Until today.” She saw her brother’s expression change. “You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”

“I can guess. Listen, Mel—”

“No, right now you’re the one doing the listening.” She stabbed him in the chest with her finger, then remembered that her hot temper was her downfall and reined it in. “And then you’re going to be doing the explaining, but I’ll let you know when we reach that part.”

He backed away. “Mel—”