I pressed my hand against the wall to steady myself.
“The house? The insurance money? It should be for us! I just need James to wake up and smell the coffee… and put my name on the deed. And after that, I don’t really care what happens to those girls. I’ll make their lives miserable until he gives in. And then this naïve man will think it was his idea all along.”
My breath caught in my throat. How was I going to marry this horrible woman?
“I’m not raising someone else’s leftovers, Karen,” she said. “I deserve so much more than this.”
I backed out through the front door and shut it quietly behind me. My hands were trembling.
Inside the car, I sat completely still. My reflection in the rearview mirror looked unfamiliar — pale, drawn, and furious.
It hit me all at once.
This wasn’t a slip or a moment of weakness. Jenna had been planning this for a while. Every time she packed a lunch or braided their hair, every word of praise she gave the girls was part of a strategy.
None of it had come from love.
I pictured Maya’s journals, stacked on her desk, each one labeled by season and filled with stories she never let anyone read. I thought of Lily’s dirt-stained fingers, gently pressing marigold seeds into the garden bed she’d built beside the fence, whispering to them like they were magic.
I remembered the way they both said goodnight — soft and in sync, like they were casting a spell to protect each other in their sleep.
Jenna had seen all of that and seen a burden.
I sat there, gripping the steering wheel, jaw clenched, stomach twisted. My heart was pounding, not just from rage but from the ache of knowing how close I came to trusting the wrong person with everything I had left.
This wasn’t going to be a fight; this was the last chapter of Jenna’s role in our story.
I drove around the block for a little while, stopping to get the girls some pizza for dinner. And then I walked back in like nothing happened.
“Hey, honey! I’m home.”
Jenna rushed up, smiling, kissing me like nothing was wrong. She smelled like coconut and lies.
That night, after the girls had gone to bed, I ran a hand down my face and sighed.
