Chapter 4: The Boat House

I crossed the street in my wedding suit before Hayes could say anything.

Kendall stood very straight beside the taxi.

Her eyes were swollen, and she had not slept either.

"You have two minutes," I said.

"I'm not here to explain." Her voice cracked. "I know you won't hear it. I'm here because of Brandon."

"What about him?"

"He films everything, Jo. Everything he does with anyone. Don't ever be alone with him."

I laughed once, and it hurt.

"You're warning me about the man you slept with."

"Yes."

"Is that your apology?"

"No." She wiped her face. "I don't have an apology that's good enough."

I looked at the green suitcase.

"Where are you going?"

"Anywhere he isn't," she said.

She got into the taxi, and it pulled away from the curb.

I stood on the courthouse sidewalk, and I wished I could hate her cleanly.

Hayes had stopped a few steps behind me.

He did not say a word about it, and I noticed that.

His house was a boat shed at the end of a gravel road on the Sound.

It had a tin roof, a wood stove, a kitchenette and one room with a bed in it.

One bed.

I stood in the doorway holding my overnight bag.

"I'll take the floor," Hayes said.

"We agreed on separate bedrooms."

"There was no second bedroom to agree on. I wasn't planning on guests."

He dragged a camping mattress out from under the workbench and dropped it by the stove.

"Tomorrow I'll get a cot," he said.

"Hayes."

"What?"

"You live in a boat shed and you have a six-million-dollar family. Why?"

"Because it's mine," he said. "My father built the first dock on this road with his own hands. Constance sold the rest."

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