Chapter 7: The Item

Imogen called at seven in the morning.

"Are you sitting down?" she said.

"I'm in bed. Naked. Very comfortable."

"Good. Look at the Harlow Hearsay page."

It was a local gossip site. I had always thought it was harmless.

The top item had gone up at six.

The headline said: "Which Vermont Thriller Queen's Perfect Marriage Has a Third Chair?"

Under it was the photo that had been texted to me, cropped so that nobody could be named.

Nobody needed to be.

It was my porch, my rail and my front door, and the whole town knew them.

"Philippa," I said.

"Her name isn't on it," said Imogen. "That's how you know."

I walked to the window.

Two cars were parked at the foot of my lane, with their engines running and their exhausts smoking in the cold.

Declan came in behind me, half dressed, holding his phone.

"I saw," he said. "I'm driving to Burlington. I'm going to tell her exactly what she is."

"No."

"Jules, she did this to you..."

"She did it to me," I said. "Which makes it mine."

He stopped.

"You've decided things for me for fourteen months," I said. "Don't start again because you feel guilty."

"I don't want to speak for you. I want to hit something."

"Then go split wood. I'll handle your mother."

He opened his mouth. Shut it. Then, slowly, he nodded.

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Husband Cheated With My Best Friend, So I Took Them Both from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.