Page 22 of My Wife

Who’s screaming?

I look at Tommy. He starts to climb out of the bed.

No longer in the mood for morning sex, I slide out of my side.

Tommy doesn’t stop to grab a shirt. All I have on is my sleep shirt, but he’s almost at the door. There’s no time for me to throw on clothes. I just pad behind him, peeking around Tommy’s lean back after he pushes the cabin door out.

Summer. Of course it has to be Summer.

She’s standing with Tyler and Chase. Chase is pacing a few feet away from the married couple, and Tyler has his arms wrapped around his wife. She’s shaking her head back and forth, looking like she’s trying to claw her way out of Tyler’s embrace.

Tommy dashes down the handful of stairs that lead to our porch.

I step out onto the porch itself, hovering there as Summer’s head turns, finding our cabin.

“We have to tell Tommy,” she yells at Tyler, shoving him away.

The big man releases her. Within seconds, she’s fleeing toward my boyfriend, flinging her arms around him.

Jealousy rips through me, but when I see the tracks of tears running down Summer’s cheeks, I go cold.

Screaming, I think. She was screaming.

Wait. Where’s Madison? Where’s V?—

“It’s Vee… Tommy, it’sVee.”

He pats the back of her head while Tyler stands where he was, expression flat though his dark brown eyes seem even darker. Like they’re all pupil.

Like he’s inwardly panicking.

Chase is still pacing, biting down on his bottom lip, his hands in his pockets.

Everyone is dressed but Tommy and me. They all look like they’ve been through the wringer, too, and whatever Summer’s about to say, I suddenly don’t want to hear it.

But she can’t find the words. Clinging to Tommy, openly sobbing now, the sounds she’s making are indecipherable.

I inch my bare feet down the steps, moving past them so that I can address Tyler.

Of the group, he’s the one I’ve spent the least amount of time with alone since I moved back to Gullhaven. I know that’s because—as much as Summer still has a thing for my boyfriend—his wife is careful to keep me away from her husband. It is what it is, but I’ve never had a problem with Tyler. In my opinion, I question his taste since he always comes crawling back to Summer when she shakes her tits and crooks her fingers, but other than that, he’s a simple kind of guy who doesn’t like to fuck around.

“Ty?” I ask, knowing that I don’t want to hear his answer—but accepting that Ihaveto. “What happened to Vee?”

He gulps, hands hanging at his side helplessly. “She’s fucking dead, Cyn. I found her. She’sdead.”

What?

NINE

ACCIDENT

Tommy did everything but lock me in the cabin to try to convince me I didn’t need to see this. I disagreed. Vee… She’s my friend.

Wasmy friend.

I owed it to her. To be there with everyone else instead of letting Tommy coddle me, leaving me behind… I had to go. Madison couldn’t bring herself to see Vee like that, but Summer, Chase, Tyler, and Tommy were all going to check out the scene and figure out what our next move was going to be. Once Madison said she’d be okay if we left her behind, Tommy and I hurriedly got dressed. As soon as we were ready, Tyler led us to the ravine where Vee fell.

I’ll admit, I experienced the teeniest, tiniest twinge of relief when I learned that she didn’t drown, but somehow fell about twenty or so feet in the ravine that helps feed Halo Lake.

---