Page 53 of Homewrecker

Would I be comfortable if Ravenna read this?

No. And if something needed another woman’s ignorance in order to remain innocent, it probably wasn’t innocent.

I deleted the thread then blocked Caleb’s number.

I sat there staring at his name on the blocked list until my eyes burned. I knew what it was becoming and I knew exactly where women who ignored that feeling ended up. I’d watched them orbit my family my entire childhood.

Women who believed my father’s unhappiness meant something. Women who believed his marriage was my mother’s problem and his happiness was theirs. Women I swore I would never understand.

I put my phone on the coffee table, finished my wine, went upstairs, and climbed into bed believing I’d stopped myself just in time.

I hadn’t slept with another woman’s husband. I hadn’t even kissed him. I was still on the right side of the line.

7

Blair

I made sure to Google Nash before our first date. The first search was normal. He had a professional website, LinkedIn, a few podcast appearances, a headshot where he looked annoyingly good in glasses.

The second search was a little more intense.

I researched divorce records, property records, his Facebook, Instagram, his ex-wife, and his ex-wife’s sister. I even found a woman tagged in a birthday photo three years ago who turned out to be his cousin.

By the time I finished, I knew Nash’s divorce had been final for four years, he owned his home, had no criminal record, and he preferred vacations in the Caribbeans.

Klair stood in my bedroom doorway watching me scroll.

“You know this is insane, right?”

“I’m being thorough.”

She stared at me. “You’re gonna scare this man away.”

“He doesn’t know I did any of this.”

“That makes it worse.”

I looked up. “How?”

“Because now you’re gonna sit across from him pretending you don’t know that he graduated magna cum laude.”

I set my phone down. “I’m not bringing that up.”

She walked into my closet and started moving hangers. “What are you wearing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Also,” she said, “you need to stop researching his ex-wife.”

“I checked once.”

“You checked enough to know she has a fitness studio.”

“It was in her bio.”

“And?”

“And nothing.”