My Husband's Smart House Only Listens to Her novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: Not Who You Think

I told Brogan I would go in alone, and he told me he'd sit in the van across the lot.

"Colleen would say that's a bad idea," he said.

"Colleen is asleep in her scrubs, and I am not telling her."

The diner on Odana Road opened at five, and by six it held two truckers and a waitress refilling ketchup.

Lia sat in the back booth with both hands around a coffee she wasn't drinking.

She had no makeup on.

Her auburn bob was flat on one side.

"You came," she said, and her chin shook.

"You said you weren't who I thought." I slid into the opposite seat. "So tell me who you are."

"I'm twenty-five."

"I know how old you are, Lia."

"I mean I'm twenty-five and I don't have anywhere to go." She wiped her nose on a napkin. "I saw the deck on Neil's laptop on Sunday. I wasn't supposed to."

"Slide nine?"

"Slide nine, and slide four." She finally looked at me. "Slide four is the team. I'm on it as 'caregiver intern.' Under me there's a line that says 'Year two: second caregiver, TBD.' It has a student's initials."

"A new one."

"A first-year. I've seen her in his office hours twice. She wears a scarf."

I let the waitress pour my coffee before I answered.

"So you're upset because you're being replaced," I said.

"Yes." Lia didn't even flinch. "And I know how that sounds, coming from me."

"It sounds like a woman who slept with my husband for three years."

"Three and a half."

"Is that supposed to help?"

"No." Her voice cracked. "It's supposed to be true."

I stirred my coffee for something to do with my hands.

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