Fifteen Days to Divorce novel · Chapter 12 of 24
Chapter 12: The Pool House
Portia had her phone in her hand before she was out of bed.
Malachi pulled on a pair of sweatpants and put one finger to his lips.
They went down the back stairs in bare feet, one step at a time, keeping to the wall.
The kitchen was dark.
The back door stood open an inch, and the cool night air smelled of chlorine.
Across the lawn, a light was on in the pool house.
Its glass doors were half open, and every word carried over the water.
Margo stood in the middle of the room with her camel coat on and her gold pen in her hand.
Reese sat on the white sofa in a trench coat, hugging her knees.
"Say it again," Reese said. "Slowly."
"At six, a man will be in the hedge," said Margo. "He's very good. He'll get you coming out of this house with your hair messy and a man's jacket on."
"Whose jacket?"
"Malachi's. It's on the hook inside the door. You'll take it."
"And Portia?"
"Portia will be upstairs, asleep. I watched their lights go out from the street."
"And if she wakes up?"
"Then she wakes up to the picture, like everybody else."
"By eight the picture is on every site," Margo went on. "'Branigan's mistress leaves at dawn.' She wakes up to it. Her husband denies nothing, because he can't, he freezes. Wife and husband fight. You comfort him."
"He'll deny it," Reese said. "He's married."
"For seven more days."
Reese said nothing.
Malachi's hand closed on the doorframe.
Portia caught his wrist.
She raised her phone and pressed record.
"What about the premiere?" Reese asked.
"At the Q&A he freezes on stage. Ten minutes live, in front of every outlet. You take his hand and answer for him. The room falls in love with you."
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