The living room was a mix of magical tropical garden and luxury accommodations, but here was Jasmine slumped in the chair at the edge of the water feature that ran through the center of the house, looking devastated, and with good hair to boot. Youweren’t supposed to be devastated in a multi-million-dollar mansion. You were supposed to be able to work through the small problems.
“Is everything okay?” Gabby sat down in a chair next to her. The creek burbled around gray river stones.
“Eh.” Jasmine shrugged. “It’s a little rough at the moment. I’m struggling.”
Gabby smiled softly. “I’m sorry. It’s probably hard. You two have to be perfect all the time to be the Power Couple.”
“Tell me about it.” Jasmine huffed out a laugh. “I’m not even sure whom I’m married to anymore, who we are.”
Gabby let her have the space to let it out. Like a real friend. She was a pretend friend, but apparently, she was pretty good at it. Jasmine was letting her in.
A tear rolled down Jasmine’s cheek. Gabby walked to the bathroom to get her a tissue. Gabby was no longer the honest, trustworthy person she was in her own mind. She could see how Markus had ended up lying, almost no one ever told the truth in this job. Everything was so gray. There were so many permutations of the truth that the capital T truth slipped into the fog with all the other secrets, a shifting cloud of facts.
“Markus and I are having trouble too,” Gabby confessed. “He’s been lying, hiding a relationship from me.” Gabby looked down at her knees while she twisted the truth of his relationship with G into something else.
“Is he cheating?” Jasmine looked up in shock.
“I don’t know.” Gabby really didn’t know. “I’m not even sure if I’m mad at him. I just want him to be honest. I want to know where I stand.”
Jasmine took a deep breath and released it, as if ready to releaseher own truth. It had to be weighing her down. Gabby was betting on it. “How are you and G?”
“Same as you and Markus, except messier. We’ve been married longer.”
“Is G cheating too?” Gabby asked.
“Yeah, he has, but I’m worse. I’m in love with someone else.”
Jasmine looked up through wet lashes. She paused for a second and then admitted it. “Naomi. It’s been going on for a while. You probably already knew.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Well, you do now.” Jasmine laughed.
“Are you going to leave G?”
Jasmine dipped her toe into the water running through the center of the house. “I don’t think I can.”
“Why not?”
“I’m in too deep. And I’ve turned my whole life into supporting him. I’m not independent anymore.”
That rang true. Gabby had been financially powerless in a world Phil created, supporting his career, living in a house he bought.
“I don’t even know everything I’m involved in. He has a lot of money coming in, and I don’t think it’s for anything good. It’s messy, and I’m up to my eyeballs in the muck.”
“What’s the money for?” Gabby asked.
Jasmine shook her head. “All I know is that it’s from bad people. The finances are a disaster. The taxes—I don’t know. Inner Beauty would be a success, but because it’s tied to the rest…” She trailed off.
“It was kind of sweet that he brought Sheridan here for you.”
“Gia—” Jasmine gave her a sharp look. “You know that’s a lie, right? He’s never been good at gift giving, but he’s not that bad.”
Gabby had completely bought the gift-giving line.
“What would you do to leave him?” Gabby asked.
“Anything.”
