Chapter 5: Night Two

Declan's penthouse had a view of the lake and a kitchen the size of my flower shop, and I had never once felt at home in it.

That night I stood in it with my arms crossed while he peeled off his wine-soaked shirt in the hall.

His mother had not spoken to him in the car. Hazel had hugged me at the door and whispered, "Call me, any hour."

Now there were only the two of us and the rule I had made.

"It's night two," Declan said. "One question each."

"You go first."

He leaned against the counter in his undershirt, with red still in his hair.

"What did you and my sister talk about in that kitchen?"

I could have dodged. Dodging meant I would owe a penalty, and he would choose it.

"She asked me who besides Tierney told me the man was dead," I said.

"And who did?"

"Nobody."

Declan frowned. "Nobody?"

"Nobody. I never checked once, in ten years."

"Miri."

"Don't," I said. "Don't say what you're thinking. I'm not ready."

He nodded slowly.

"Your question," he said.

I had been holding it since the wedding.

"Why her?" I asked. "Of all the women in Chicago, why Tierney?"

He took a long time.

When he answered, he did not smile and did not make a joke.

"Because she knew you better than I did," he said. "She'd had ten years of you. I had two, and you kept me out of every room that mattered."

"That's not an answer."

"It is. I wanted to take one thing from you that you'd already given to her. I wanted to know what it felt like to be let in."

The room went very quiet.

Keep reading free with an account. Start Wedding Night Confession: Husband Said I Slept With Your Best Friend from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.