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Two weeks after I accidentally murdered my husband, I woke up and knew a pool day was absolutely what the doctor ordered. When you have a chance to spend a leisurely day next to blue water, the important thing is to make it count. I filled up a cooler with ice and loaded it with drinks, put on music, set out snacks, magazines, and books. It was Friday. The weather was gorgeous, and I slathered on suntan oil, determined to think of nothing.
When you live in Texas, you collect bathing suits, especially when you grew up competing in beauty pageants then leaped straight into being a trophy wife. Most of my bikinis still fit, except in the chest. Josh had talked me into a boobjob and so my D cups were round and perky. They weren’t unnaturally big or anything, I’d been firm about that.
“Hey, Sal,” my friend Winnifred said from the side gate. “Freakin’ Friday at last. I don’t know why we even bother going in the office, ’cause no one gets a thing done.”
I unlocked the black iron gate and let her in. “Come on in and grab a drink. Is that Iris’s car over there?”
“Sure is. She waved me on. Looks like some kinda fight she’s having on her phone. That husband of hers is real uptight. Makes me glad I’m single.”
A few unfamiliar cars were parked in our cul-de-sac. I frowned, thinking about all the calls, emails, and direct messages I’d been getting from “reporters.” There had been a lot of death threats too. But I wasn’t going to dwell on any of that.
Iris slammed her car door shut and stomped over to the gate. “Hey,” she said, looking me over with her face pinched. “It’s good to see you.”
“You too. Come on in here and don’t you worry. I’m the finest thang this side of Pflugerville.”
Iris tossed her thick black hair. “My hubs is being a politician prick. I can’t stay long, hon, I’m sorry. You know he’s running for office this year…”
I nodded sharply. When had I become such a freaking pariah? “There’s nothing happenin’ here. Just three babes sunbathing. Margarita or mai tai? Winn brought wine coolers too.”
Drinks in hand, we all settled onto the cushioned lounge chairs next to the pool. I got Winn talking about her latest dating horror stories, trying to put off what I knew was coming.
“Then he asked me how often he could choke me,” Winn said, her freckled face scrunching up. “I was like, wait what? I’d thought he’d saidchase.”
Iris and I chuckled. Josh’s kink had included choking—getting and giving. I swallowed more of my slushy margarita.
“So,” Winn continued, “he repeated it. Listen, we’d had two bottles of wine by then and I was feelin’ it. Thinking, hell yeah, the guy likes a nice suit and makes bank. I can work with that. I mean, I was a little disappointed he didn’t ask a thing about me, but you know first dates are always weird. He was all intense, staring at me hard. I thought, if I say no, he’s gonna sneak out of here and leave me with the bill. So I acted all flustered, and winked at him, then ran off to the ladies’ room. Once he couldn’t see me, I walked outside and took a cab home. Had to leave my favorite jacket at the table. But you know what? The restaurant had it for me the next day. And a waitress there told me that man is there every Saturday with a new date. Somebody oughta give him a blow-up doll. He could squeeze her neck until she popped.”
“Dating is such a shit show,” Iris said. “Just the thought of it keeps me in my marriage sometimes.”
Uh huh. I glanced at her sideways. Iris had grown up rich and married rich. I hoped, for her sake, that her marriage turned out better than mine. But really, most people’s do—even if it means divorce.
“Okay, Sally,” Iris said, slamming her glass down on a side table. “I’ve never seen you so damn quiet. Girl, are you okay? Can I dig up his body and kill him again?”
“Cheese and crackers, Iris,” Winn said, putting a hand up next to her ears. “Do you have to start shouting? Give the girl a break.”
Iris huffed, slouching down in her chair. “I told Antonio that if he watched a single second of the videos of you online, he’d get a lamp in the head too.”
I stared out at the greenbelt that ran along the back of my parents’ fence, tall trees and a little creek that dried up in thesummer. Something had moved down in the gully, probably a rabbit or deer.
“You know what, I will be fine. I’m gonna fake it till I make it. To hell with wallowing—ain’t a damn thing I can do to change what happened.” I took another drink, not meeting their eyes. “But my parents aren’t looking me in the face these days. They’re off to a cruise next week.”
Winn cleared her throat. “You’ve got all his cheddar now though—right, Sal?”
“What?” Iris said.
“Moolah. Benjamins. Whatever you want to call it. Sally’s loaded.”
“It’s tied up in property and funds right now. And his family is suing me.” I kept trying to make a plan, come up with some idea to move forward with but it all went sour when I thought of leaving the house. All of the sick attention over that video had taken my life away.
“It’ll cool down,” said Winn flipping her mop of blonde hair. “Oh, look who’s in his mama’s backyard. There’s that Hank Bridger, with his shirt off. Mm mm.”
“His girlfriend’s running around with his cousin,” Iris whispered. “Hank’s little bungalow is in my neighborhood. That man works all the time. Clarissa thinks she’s so smooth having her hook-up park across the street but she ain’t foolin’ a damn soul. Except Hank.”
I watched him sweeping off the back patio of his mother’s yard. “I bet he does know,” I said. “He’s putting off dealing with it.”
The bushes below us rustled. Something shiny caught the light, like a piece of glass or metal. I leaned forward and saw a long camera lens peeking out from between a couple of branches, pointed straight at me.
“Hey,” I shouted, standing up. “Who’s down there?”
