Page 43 of The Replacement Wife

“Not that.”

No, exactly that. He moved on. He appeared to excel at it. “You convinced Harris to hide Lauren’s death—her existence—from me.”

“It wasn’t like that, I swear.” He dropped his head between his hands and kept it there for a few seconds. “You of all people have to understand.”

This should be interesting. “Why?”

“You know what it’s like to have something horrific happen and just want to block it.”

The shooting. All that blood. The scene flashed in her mind. Instead of driving up her anxiety, this time she used the horrible reminder to fuel her. “She was your wife. Family.”

“I know. I never should have asked Harris not to talk about her.” He sounded contrite, but there was no way to tell how real his emotions were at this point.

She figured the tone reflected his frustration at getting caught. “I can’t believe he didn’t.”

“He probably convinced himself I’d go back to being the selfish, destructive kid if he did.”

That sounded like Harris. In the past she might haveaccepted the excuse, thinking Harris knew best. But lately she had the growing feeling that she’d forgiven a lot, made Harris into a saint and avoided real-life issues.

“You’re a grown-up now,” she said.

“I am and I’m sorry.”

A buzzing sound broke into the conversation.

His gaze switched to her phone and where she’d placed it on the ottoman they used as a coffee table. “What’s that?”

A countdown to getting him out of the house. “My alarm. It’s a reminder to get moving to pick up Nathan.”

“Because you forgot him yesterday.”

Her defenses rose at the unexpected shot. “Isn’t Harris chatty?”

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Josh shook his head. “Please, Elisa. I’m lashing out.”

“Like you did outside of your office.” No matter how much she tried she couldn’t block the memory of his voice as he’d hurled accusations at her.

“It’s a defense mechanism.”

Habit. It was a habit bred from years of escaping accountability. He got away with everything. If you dared to question him, he’d unload and make you feel guilt for even trying.

He stood up. “I know you have to go, but I need to know we’re back on track.”

Was that a question? If so, before she could come up with a deflecting response, he stepped around the table and hugged her.

Finally he lifted his head. “I’m so relieved.”

She was pretty sure she’d missed his big apology. “Because you told me about Lauren?”

“Because we’re good again.”

She stood there, looking at his confident, almost smug smile, and knew the one thing he didn’t. They weren’t good or fine or anything close.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The last thing Elisa wanted to do after her crappy morning was climb into a car and pick up her high-energy son, but she did. She spent the entire car ride on the way to the school thinking about her driver’s license and when it was out of her possession. Never. Not really.

She remembered losing track of her phone for a few hours back when Harris and the school were calling for her. Someone could have gone into her wallet, looking for her license, but the list of possible candidates was short and too scary to think about. Josh. Harris. Rachel. Unless someone grabbed her license and took a photo while she ordered coffee or sat at a school or work meeting, the list ended there.

---