Darker Shades of Elise novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Second Phone

"I wore it because you asked me to," I said.

My voice came out steady, and I was proud of that.

Mitchell looked at me a moment longer.

"Of course you did," he said.

The light changed, and he drove on.

At home he hung his jacket in the hall closet and took off his shoes.

He said he had a call with the buyer's people at seven in the morning.

"I'll sleep in the guest room."

"I don't want to wake you."

"You never wake me."

"Then I'll be extra careful," he said, and went up.

I stood at the bottom of the stairs in my red dress and listened to the guest room door close.

My phone buzzed.

A text from an unfamiliar number, and then a second one.

"Porch and driveway cameras are live. Check the app I sent. Sleep. A."

I unhooked the clasp at my neck and stepped out of the heels, and the red dress slid off one shoulder.

In the dark hallway mirror I looked like a woman in a film, and I wished I had the courage of one.

My shoulders came down for the first time since the mill lot.

I typed, "Thank you," then deleted it and typed, "Who gave you my number?"

He answered right away.

"HOA directory. I'm not proud."

I smiled for the first time in a week, and then the smile went off my face.

The hall closet door was a foot from my shoulder.

Mitchell's jacket hung in it, the gray wool one, and something heavy bumped the lining when I brushed it.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Darker Shades of Elise from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.