Her Husband's Other Life novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Kitchen Light

The officiant signed her statement at four on Saturday, at a table in the hotel library, with Geraldine Penrose reading every page over her shoulder.

She was a quiet woman in her fifties, and she cried when she put down the pen.

"I thought it was a performance," she said. "They told me they wanted it to look official."

"It did," Geraldine said, and capped her own pen. "That's why we're here."

By five Geraldine had her briefcase shut and was on her way down the front steps.

"Eat something," she told me, pointing her glasses at me. "I'm not billing you for the next three hours. That's an instruction."

I meant to follow her out.

Instead I stood in the Willow Creek lobby holding a paper cup of ginger tea, and the front doors swung shut on the last of her blazer.

"Come back to the kitchen," Nate said. "I'm making dinner."

"I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten since breakfast."

"How do you know that?"

"Allie texted me." He held up his phone with a straight face. "She said, and I quote, make her eat something that isn't a cracker."

"Allie has your number?"

"She asked for it on the landing. I thought it was for emergencies."

"It was," I said. "This is one."

The hotel kitchen was empty and gleaming, with a long steel counter down the middle and one light left on over the stove.

Nate took off his work jacket and hung it on a hook, and underneath he wore a pressed white shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbow.

I noticed his forearms, and then I noticed myself noticing.

He found a pot, and a bag of small pasta, and a wedge of cheese that looked older than I was.

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