Chapter 19: The Ring Light

By morning the photo of my window had four million views.

I sat at my grandmother's table in Rafe's flannel shirt, reading the comments with a cold cup of coffee.

Rafe sat across from me with his laptop open and his manager on speaker.

"The buyers have paused," the manager said. "Formally. A review of the conduct clause and what they're calling reputational risk."

"They paused after the show or after the post?" Rafe asked.

"After both. One of them called the post a gift."

"Of course he did."

"Rafe, I need to know. Is any of what she's saying true?"

"I'm sleeping with Casey," Rafe said. "In Casey's house. Of my own free will. She isn't the other woman, and Lydia knows it."

The speaker was silent for a long moment.

"Okay," the manager said. "I'll tell them that, in nicer words."

He hung up.

My phone buzzed with a message from the dental office, from the doctor I had worked for six years.

Come in Monday. We should talk about whether you stay off the schedule this week. Patients are asking.

I put the phone face down.

"They're suspending you?" Rafe asked.

"They're being careful. It's one week."

"It's your job, Casey."

"It's my job," I agreed. "And I'll still have it next Tuesday."

Outside, a car door slammed.

Another one followed it. Then another.

I went to the window.

A white car sat at the curb.

Lydia stood on my lawn in a cream coat, with her glossy bob and a red nose.

She had been crying, or she had arranged to look as if she had.

Behind her stood a young woman with a ring light on a pole, holding a phone at eye level.

On the porch across the street, my neighbor was already filming.

"She brought a camera crew," Rafe said, behind me.

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