Page 127 of Outside The Wire

I nodded, unsure how to end this. “You look good, Jade.”

“You too.”

I stepped forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then turned and walked out. When the door shut, I leaned back against it and closed my eyes. My heart was breaking for the woman inside. I didn’t want to hurt her, but there was no way I could give her what she needed. This was the way it had to end.

31

HOLLY

I tossedmy purse on the couch and plopped down, closing my eyes with a sigh. I was exhausted. There was nothing more I wanted than to curl up in a ball and go to sleep, but I couldn’t shut my brain down. No matter how much I distracted myself, all I could think about was Asher and the return of his dead wife. The look on his face when she appeared in the restaurant would haunt me until the day I died.

My phone rang, interrupting the silence around my raging thoughts. I glanced at the screen and groaned. The last person I wanted to speak to was my mother, but if I didn’t answer, she’d just keep calling.

“Hello, mother.”

“Don’t call me mother. That makes me sound so old. What’s this I hear about you and Asher breaking up?”

“We haven’t broken up.”

“Then why did Noelle say you had?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you ask her?” I was going to kill Noelle.

“I did ask her. She said I should leave you alone because you were probably drowning in your tears. Something about his wife? I thought she died.”

“She came back from the dead.”

“Well, that’s just ridiculous. Nobody comes back from the dead.”

“This one did.”

“You’re not making any sense.”

I sighed, rubbing my forehead. “Mom, I really don’t want to talk about this right now. Can we talk later?”

“Later? You won’t tell me anything later.”

“I know. That’s the point.”

“You’re just like your father.”

“If I was just like Dad, I’d be wearing a tinfoil hat and yelling at you for talking to me on the phone.”

“You know what I mean.”

“I do and that means I’m getting off the phone now.”

“Don’t you hang up on me.”

“Goodbye, Mom.”

“Holly—”

I hung up. There was no way I was discussing Asher with her when I had no idea what was going on. It was way too early for pajamas, but I had nothing better to do and no one to see. I hauled my ass off the couch and found the comfiest thing I could. I didn’t match and it didn’t look very flattering, but I was comfortable in my flannel pajamas.

As I trudged into the kitchen, I opened the fridge and stared at the contents, willing a pizza or a lasagna to suddenly appear. That didn’t happen. Neither did the Chinese food, the chocolate cake, or the pudding that I secretly longed for. I grabbed the milk and a large cup out of the cabinet. There was only one thing to do on a night like this. Snatching up a full pack of Oreos, I headed into the living room and flicked through the channels until I found a movie to watch. Ironically,Sleeping With The Enemywas on.

I snorted in amusement. “Imagine that. The woman starts her life over with a handsome man and her husband comes back to screw it all up. Sound familiar?”

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