“Yes.”
“What did it say?”
“Nothing has been used.”
He stopped walking.
Then he bent forward, laughing so hard that he had to hold the fence.
“Rachel! You cannot say things like that and expect me to behave normally!”
I kissed his cheek.
“Seventeen years of marriage, darling. You should know better than to underestimate me.”
We drove home together.
For the first time in months, I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
Not because I’d defeated another woman.
Because I’d finally stopped allowing her to dictate the atmosphere of my home.
Chapter Five: The Morning After
By Sunday morning, the story had traveled through the neighborhood.
I didn’t spread it.
I didn’t need to.
People who had attended the barbecue had seen everything for themselves, and people who hadn’t attended heard different versions of the same basic story.
Vanessa had invited a married man to her party without his wife.
