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Chapter Eight: LisaI was four minutes late.I saw her sitting at a table by the window facing the water, sunglasses pushed up on her head, already looking toward the door like she had been watching for me since she arrived. The moment our eyes met she stood up and I walked faster and then we were hugging properly, the kind of hug that has weight behind it, the kind that says I missed you."Look at you," I said, pulling back to see her face. "You have grown so beautiful.""I can say the same for you," she said, holding my face in both hands and looking at me carefully."Irony," I said.Her smile stayed but her eyes didn't. She put her hand on my shoulder and looked at me with the kind of concern that has no performance in it."Issy. What's wrong."It wasn't a question. It was Lisa telling me she already knew something was wrong and was giving me permission to say it out loud. We both sat down and before I could answer a waiter appeared beside us."Good day ma'ams. What would you like t
Chapter Seven: FoolI heard his car before I saw him.The engine turning off in the driveway, the familiar sound of the door, his footsteps on the front path. I turned the volume up slightly on the television and stayed exactly where I was, my legs curled under me on the couch, eyes on the screen, completely unbothered.The front door opened.Edward walked in looking the way he always looked after work. Jacket slightly creased, tie loosened, the particular confidence of a man who had spent the whole day feeling important and expected to come home to a house that revolved around him.He looked at me.I looked up. "Welcome."Then I turned back to the television.He stood there for a moment. Then his eyes moved to the dining table. Empty. No plates, no food, no smell coming from the kitchen."Why is my food not ready?"I kept my eyes on the screen. "I wasn't feeling well enough to make dinner today.""So what am I supposed to eat?"I looked at him then. Directly. Calmly. "You can cook, ca
Chapter Six: On my own I made it to the guest room before the sound came out of me.I closed the door, pressed my back against it and slid down slowly until I was sitting on the floor with both hands clamped hard over my mouth.Margaret knew about Sandra.That was the thing I could not get past. Not only did she know, she supported. Encouraged. Pushed. Edward's idea of going back to his ex. Then a realization hit me of their earlier conversation at the living.*How did it go son.**Smooth mom.**That's my son. I trust you.*I pressed my hands harder against my mouth.That conversation had happened right in front of me. I had been standing in the kitchen and Edward's mother had been asking about Sandra like she was asking about a business deal. Like I was furniture. Like the woman he had married was not standing one room away hearing every single word, it all made sense to me.And Edward.*I know mom.*No argument. No defence. Just quiet agreement from a man who had kissed my forehead
Chapter Five: Matrimonial Indeed The car horn startled me awake, and I sluggishly walked to the window before my eyes were fully open. I saw Edward's car door swinging open and him stepping out. My stomach dropped. I let the curtain fall and stepped back. My hands were unsteady, and I looked down at them. I felt I was a bit nervous, though I didn't know why. I sat on the edge of the bed and pressed my hands flat on my thighs and breathed. I was not going to let him see me shaking. I waited for his footsteps on the stairs. They did not come. I got up, opened the bedroom door, and sneaked into the hallway. Margaret's voice floated up from downstairs, sweet as poison. "So she is back. Isn't it time for her to leave?" I said in a low voice. My blood went cold. Then I heard footsteps, fast, and coming up the stairs toward me. Immediately, I ran. I hadn't run like that in almost two years and my lungs reminded me just how long it had been. I made
Chapter Four: Old Menace I finally pulled myself up from the dining chair. Not dramatically. Not with any kind of purpose. Just the slow, heavy movement of a body that had been sitting in the same place for too long, holding too much, going nowhere. My legs felt heavy as I moved toward the stairs. I wasn't tiptoeing. I was simply moving slowly. Mentally drained in a way that sleep could not fix because the problem was not tiredness. The problem was that my husband had just kissed my forehead without guilt, like he hadn't just betrayed our marriage. Now he was back, walking past me like I was a door he was closing on his way out, before going upstairs to laugh with his mother while I sat at that dining table and let it happen. I was halfway up the stairs when I heard it. Fast, heavy footsteps coming down the stairs toward me. I pressed myself to the side and Edward came wandering around the corner above me, his jacket half buttoned, tie hanging loose, moving lik
Chapter Three: Forehead KissI heard his key in the door before it opened.That sound. That specific small sound that, for four years, had made something in me relax, like a breath I’d been holding all day finally letting it go.But today was different. My jaw tightened. I pressed my hands flat against my thighs and stood at the foot of the stairs, watching the door swing open.Edward walked in looking rested.That was the thing that hit me first. Not guilt, tension, or even the smallest shadow of a man who had spent two days doing something worth hiding. He walked in like he always did, jacket over one arm and an easy smile already on his face, filling the doorway with the same confidence I had seen a thousand times before. Relaxed and completely unbothered.Before I could open my mouth, Margaret was already across the room."Edward!"She moved faster than I had ever seen her move for anything, her arms wide open, face lit up, crossing the living room like she hadn't seen him in year







