The Husband Who Lied to Me novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: House Rules

I got to the porch before they got to the steps.

I had my phone in my good hand, with the recorder already running.

Nolan came up the gravel with the roses held in front of him and his best face on.

Marlene walked two steps behind, in a camel coat, with her purse over her arm and a small white card between her fingers.

"Ruby," Nolan said. "Thank God. We've been so worried."

"Who broke my door?"

He looked at the splintered wood.

"What happened to it?"

"Somebody put a pry bar through it today."

"That's terrible." His eyes were wide and soft and perfectly blank. "You should call the police, babe. I'd never go through your grandfather's desk. You know I'd never."

"Who said anything about a desk?"

"I assumed. That's where the papers are."

His smile held.

It was good, I will give him that.

Marlene stepped up beside him.

"We didn't come to argue," she said. "We came to be sensible. Nolan has made a mistake, a young man's mistake, and I'd like you both to sit down with a mediator before anyone does anything permanent."

She held out the card.

It said Mediation and Family Counsel, with a Lake Oswego address.

I did not take it.

"The mediator is a friend of mine," she added.

"I'm sure she is."

"A wife who humiliates her husband in public can't expect to be forgiven. I'm offering you a way out with your dignity."

"I have my dignity, Marlene. I left it at your table when you hit me with it."

Nolan lowered the flowers.

"Ruby, just come home. Kristen's gone to her sister's. It's finished. I'll sign anything you want."

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