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“No. It’s for me.”
“Who is it?”
“Just a patient with a problem.”
“Why’d you tell him that?” Maggie asks.
Dani’s voice descends even lower. “Look. I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m just fixin’ to get dinner on the table.”
“Dani, for God’s sake,” she hears Nick say. “Tell them to call you at the office.”
“I gotta go.”
“We have to talk,” Maggie tells her. But the line is already dead.
—
Maggie gets back from the gym at just before eight-thirty. She’s tired and sweaty and common sense tells her that she should probably use this time before the kids come home to relax her sore muscles in a nice, hot bath. She laughs. When has she ever listened to her common sense?
So instead of stripping off her exercise clothes and submerging her stiff joints in a combination of steaming water and Epsom salt, she finds herself walking up the Wilsons’ front path. “What’s Nick going to do?” she asks the star-filled sky. “Shoot me?”
The front door opens before she’s halfway up the walk. Dani Wilson, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved blouse, takes a quick glance over her shoulder and then steps outside, closing the door quietly behind her and plastering a big grin on her face. “Hi,” she says. “I saw you comin’ from the window. How was the gym?”
“Good. Exhausting, but good. I haven’t worked out like that in a long time. And I was definitely the oldest person in the class.”
“I’m sure you did just fine.”
“Well, I tried. That’s all you can do, right?”
“Right.” Dani takes another glance over her shoulder. “Was there somethin’ you needed?”
“Erin tells me you’re thinking of moving.”
“Oh. Yes, that’s right.”
“Seems kind of sudden,” Maggie says. “Mind my asking why?”
Dani’s smile disappears. “It’s not really sudden. Nick’s been thinkin’ about it for a long time. He wants a bigger house, a gated community. You know, somewhere with tennis courts and a golf course, that sort of thing.”
“What doyouwant?”
A brief pause. “I want my husband to be happy.”
“What about you?”
“Whataboutme?”
“Dani,” Maggie says. “I know what’s going on. You don’t have to keep pretending.”
“What are you talkin’ about? I’m not pretendin’ anythin’. There’s nothin’ goin’ on.”
“I’ve seen the bruises.”
“I told you…”
“I know what you told me, and I know it’s not true. I know that Nick is responsible, that he’s been beating you.”
“That’s plumb crazy.”
