The Don's Wife Never Looks Back novel · Chapter 8 of 32

Chapter 8: The Photographs

The white Mercedes pulled out of the alley before I could stand up.

Its taillights turned onto 18th Street and were gone.

Nathaniel was still holding me, his hand flat on my back under the sweater.

"Who was that?"

"Livia."

He swore softly and leaned his head back against the chimney.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"For what? Kissing me? Do not apologize for that. I'll have it framed."

I laughed, but I climbed off his lap.

"Not with her watching," I said. "Not the first time."

He looked at me for a long moment, his hair wrecked and his shirt open at the collar where I'd opened it.

"Okay," he said. "But there's going to be a first time."

"Yes."

"Good. Just checking the schedule."

He drove me home to Lowe Avenue and kissed me once more at the curb, slow, with the engine running and Tripod breathing on both of us from the back seat.

At seven the next morning, Marisa shook me awake on the pullout.

She was still in her scrubs from the night shift.

She held her phone an inch from my face.

It was a gossip site I'd only ever seen in nail salons.

The headline said: DON'S GRIEVING WIFE AND HER ARCHITECT.

Under it was the photo.

The roof, the chimney, the city lights. My hair down. My hands in Nathaniel's open collar. His hands under my sweater.

You could see my face perfectly.

You couldn't see his at all.

"My cousin sent it," Marisa said. "It's in every group chat in Bridgeport. Your aunt-in-law posted it on Facebook with three crying faces."

"Livia took it last night."

"Of course she did." Marisa sat on the arm of the couch. "So. Was it good?"

"Marisa."

"I worked a twelve-hour shift. I need something."

I put the pillow over my face.

"Yes," I said through it.

"I knew it. I knew it in high school when he came to your graduation party."

"He didn't come to my graduation party. I didn't know him in high school."

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