Page 85 of If I Didn’t Have You

“Okay, don’t be mad, but she’s out there right now, telling us about this guy she’s dating.”

That didn’t make sense. “If she’s dating someone else, why is she flirting with my husband?”

Georgia shushed me, glancing over her shoulder as if she could see through the damn door.

“Georgia, please explain to me why you would convince me that she was flirting with my husband if she’s dating someone else!”

“I didn’t know she was dating someone at the time. And frankly, it looked like she was flirting!”

I was so confused. “So, was she flirting or wasn’t she?”

Letting out a sigh, she scrubbed a hand over her forehead. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”

“Well, that’s very helpful, Georgia. I ran my car through a window in a fit of rage, and now you’re not sure?”

“Shh! Keep it down. Do you want everyone in town to know that our accident was not really an accident?” she hissed.

“Ben thinks I tried to kill him,” I sighed, glancing around the bathroom, grimacing at the small stains on the sink.

“Why would he think⁠—”

“Because we’re fighting, and he doesn’t think it was an accident, so I must have been trying to murder him.”

“Well, that’s just ridiculous.”

As she chattered away, I grabbed the wipes and started cleaning. It was a habit I picked up long ago. Whenever something bothered me, I cleaned.

“Look, we’ll go out there and pretend everything’s normal. No one has to know that you may or may not have tried to kill someone. And my part in this will be hidden for the rest of time,” she laughed humorlessly.

“Sure, everything will be fine.”

“So, we’ll just walk out there and go along with the book club. It’ll all be fine.”

“You already said that.”

“You said that. I was repeating it.”

Rolling my eyes, I yanked the door open and marched out with my shoulders back. No matter what Georgia said, I still saw the way River looked at my husband, and I didn’t like it.

But I put that aside and took my seat across from the woman who just days ago, I tried to kill.

Kill was a strong word. I couldn’t be certain that I actually wanted her dead. In fact, if I put myself back in that moment, I’m not sure I was even aiming for River. I was angry, and I wanted to…

I wasn’t sure what I wanted. That was the truth of it, and it worried me a little more than if I had actually intended to kill the young woman. Not knowing what I had wanted to do made me question who I was as a person. At least if I had intended to kill her, I would know I was a murderer.

“So, this week’s book…” Cassidy grinned. “Thoughts?”

She looked around, waiting for one of us to speak up.

“I thought it was an interesting turn of events,” I spoke up, feeling like this book hit a little too close to home.

“Because the woman was crazy?” Lila asked with a laugh.

“Was she?” I cocked my head in thought. “If Remi stalked a woman the way our heroine went after the hero, we would all say he was sexy. Why is the heroine being punished because she acted like a man?”

They all looked at each other, but it was Ellie who spoke up. “Because men are possessive and strong. We like to think it’s in their nature to…have those tendencies.”

The door opened and none other than Bianca Davenport walked through the door, looking just as out of place as the day she arrived a year ago. Everyone looked at Ellie, then back to Bianca, who blinked innocently at us.