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“You really don’t know what you’re going to say to her?”
“It’s going to depend on how she reaches out to me. I have some ideas, but it has to be natural. If it sounds scripted, she’ll sense it and go running. All of this will have been for nothing.”
“But everyone we know will think we’re cheating on Peter and Claire. How are we ever going to fix our reputations?”
He puts his hand on top of mine and looks into my eyes. “The most important thing is to keep you and the kids safe.”
It’s hard to argue with that logic, but I can’t help feeling like Peter and I are going to have to start over fresh somewhere else after all of this. I can’t stand the thought of everyone we know thinking of me like that. I love my husband, and I’d never do anything to hurt him. He’s the best thing to happen to me, and after dealing with Bryant, I know just how much to appreciate the kind and generous man he is, one who always puts his family above himself.
Beyond that, I wouldn’t do anything to hurt my kids. I want them to grow up in a happy home. That’s what they have now. We may be a blended family, but we’re a family. We have each other’s backs. We love one another, even if it looks different from other households. All four of my kids are content and secure, and they love being part of a big, unique family.
Will they still have all that when this is over?
ChapterForty-Three
My stomach knots tighter with every moment that passes. I haven’t heard anything from David, which means my twin hasn’t reached out to him. Or it means she has, and he’s busy trying to convince her he thinks she’s me.
He’s fake cheating with two different women all to help me. It makes me want to scream. My evil sister is ruining so many lives.
I don’t know why we thought this was a good idea. Everyone is talking about our rendezvous at the coffee shop this morning. I can tell by the way people glare at me. And who could blame them? Peter and Claire are kind and wonderful people who don’t deserve to be cheated on by their spouses. Peter is a respected and loved doctor whom many patients request. Claire is a beloved first-grade teacher who has taught half the kids in town.
I deserve the murderous glares. Who wouldn’t hate me?
With any luck, everything will come to light. People will find out about my secret lookalike and understand it was her causing all these problems. Not me.
But there are no guarantees. I have to accept that everyone I know might always see me as a homewrecker after this. Not that it matters now.
David and I need to stop my twin. The fact that I found the purple shirt in my hamper again tells me that much. How could she have gotten in the house since we rekeyed the doors and changed the codes? Only Peter, the kids, and I know any of that.
She had to have been staking out the house with binoculars. That’s the only thing that makes any sense. There would be no other way for her to get the codes. If she could get inside our house, it stands to reason she could’ve called him from either the landline or even my cell phone. I know it’s crazy that we have a landline in this day and age, but Peter insists on it. As a doctor, he says it could save a life. It hasn’t yet, but who knows? Maybe some day it will.
It’s a good thing I didn’t use it last night when I heard Nadia, who I wasn’t expecting to be home. The police already think I’m losing my mind. That wouldn’t have helped prove my point in the slightest.
“Mom! Watch!” Sophie’s voice yanks me from my thoughts.
I wave to her, letting her know she has my full attention.
“Look what I can do!” She swings her legs to the top of the monkey bars and hangs upside down.
She’s never done that before, so I jump up, clap, and whistle. “That’s amazing!”
My heart isn’t in it like it normally would be, but she doesn’t notice.
A wide smile spreads across her face as she swings back and forth between before getting herself down. She runs over. “I finally did it!”
I ruffle her hair. “I think we have a real gymnast in our family. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so young do that before.”
Sophie beams. “I’m going to do it again!”
As soon as her back is turned, I check my phone. Nothing from David. Something had to have gone wrong. Did he mistake my twin for me? What if—?
“Hey, babe.”
I spin around toward the booming voice behind me.
David smiles and winks. After sitting, he slings his arm around me. “How’s it going?”
“I hope that’s code for ‘the evil one approached you.’”
