Page 3 of Recipes for Life

Wynn wasn't my sister by blood, but we had grown up in and out of foster care and eventually ended up in the same house. I was fifteen and she was turning seventeen. Ms. Wilder was a nice older lady, and a far cry from where I had been before, but at least she was safe. I used to think being placed in her care was the best thing that happened to me, because I found Wynn, my sister for life, and I found Murphy.

"Earth to Odette?" I heard over my thoughts, and I realized I had yet to speak.

"Wynn..." I barely managed to croak out.

"What happened?" she demanded, her voice taking on a deadly tone.

"I can't...I don't..." I couldn't stop the onslaught of tears, and I couldn't bring myself to tell her what had happened. The annoying beep of my call waiting kept pinging in my ear, and I didn't need a PhD to know it was Murphy. I don't think I've ever once ignored him before, but I hit decline without a second thought.

"I'm coming to get you," she said before I heard the line disconnect.

I almost wanted to ask her how she knew where I was, but then I remembered we had the Find Your Family app installed so she had my location.

Fuck, that means Murphy also has my location.

I went into my settings and shut it off. I needed to leave here; I knew my husband, and I knew he would be coming.

Shooting a text to Wynn, I told her not to leave her place, that I was coming to her, and I would be silencing my phone. I knew it would take me a little over two hours to make my way to her. I turned my phone on silent, thinking better of shutting itoff completely in case Susan needed to contact me about Lux. I wiped the tears and vomit from my face, pulled out of the gas station parking lot, and drove to Wynn, all the while planning what to do next.

I made it to Wynn’s cozy cottage in record time. The world seemed to be asleep as I made my drive, so I was able to do some thinking. I wasn't ashamed of my submissive nature, and it worked for me. I knew some of it had to do with my childhood trauma of being in and out of foster care. I knew that I just wanted someone to take care of me, and someone I could take care of and shower with all the love I had never been given or allowed to give in my youth. Wynn always used to call me a bleeding heart, and she was fiercely protective because I was the type people took advantage of. Wanting to see the best in people and all that.

As I had made the drive, I felt a fundamental piece of me change. Was it because of who I was that Murphy thought he could do this? Has he been doing this the entire time we've been together? I've never once questioned him, never once thought to look through his phone, never thought he could be capable of this. Had I buried my head in the sand so I could keep my own slice of happiness? I never wanted to feel like this again, like who I was wasn't enough, who I was would allow someone to walk all over me, andthey did.

I could feel the instant I changed, I'd heard and read about this before. I felt my heart completely shatter and rebuild itself in Lux's name alone, forcing Murphy out like a poison. He had no place here anymore. It was over, I was done, and everything had changed.

Chapter 3

Odette

Wynn was standing outside on her adorable wraparound porch when I pulled in. She stalked down the steps before I was able to put my car into park and ripped open the door, scanning me from head to toe, looking for any physical wounds. Unfortunately, for me, my wounds were only internal.

Wynn was a force to be reckoned with; she had that "take no shit" attitude and the looks to match. Her dark blonde hair had pieces of purple threaded through it, and even though her face was bare of makeup given the hour, she normally sported deep red lips and a smokey eye. While she usually wore power suits to work, outside of work, she usually dressed in all black with ass-kicking boots to match. She had on sleep shorts and a T-shirt in her signature black coloring, but with the look on her face, she still looked like she could inflict some serious damage.

She pulled me into a fierce hug. Wynn wasn't the best people-person and didn't like physical touch unless it came from the man who was warming her bed, so I knew she must have seen the devastation sprawled over my face.

"Come inside, let's talk."

I followed her into her cottage, noting it looked a bit barer than the last time I was here two weeks ago.

"Where's all your stuff?" I pointed at the walls, noticing some of her abstract art was taken down.

"I'm actually thinking of selling. I travel too much with work to have a three-bedroom cottage. I bought it in a buyer's market, and now it's a seller’s market, so it seems like a smart move."

The idea popped into my head almost instantly. "Sell it to me."

"What happened, Odette?" She sat at the breakfast nook, gesturing for me to join her. I was shocked that I was holding it together as well as I was.

During the drive here I had nothing but time to think about my next steps. The way I saw it, I had two options. The first one was to sit down, listen to him, and see what happened. Unfortunately for me, my husband was my weakness, everything about him made me tremble with want and need. He had been my haven for ten years. I wasn't obtuse enough to think that those feelings would just go away, and right now they were hidden under layers of betrayal and pain, but the love I had for him was still there. Because of that I knew, given half the option or chance, I would fold like a deck of cards.

My second option was to cut him off completely. It would be significantly easier if it were just him and I, but I had Lux to think about. I would never be that woman who withheld a man's child from him, even the thought of that put a frown on my face. I know what that woman said, but ultimately, the choice to remain in Lux's life was Murphy's choice. Since I didn't get the luxury of growing up with parents, I would never take that away from Lux,ever.

"I caught Murphy cheating on me." It tumbled out of my mouth so quickly, even though the words felt like they were burning my throat.

"I'm sorry... What did you just say?" I could feel Wynn’s anger permeating the air.

I met her gaze. I knew my eyes held all the pain I felt, while hers blazed like a raging inferno.

"I'm going to kill him." She got up from the nook. "I think I'm actually going to kill him." She started pacing the kitchen, muttering under her breath about how long a body takes to decompose, and when I heard something along the lines of "No body, no crime," I couldn't help the hysterical laugh that bubbled out of me.

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