CHAPTER 1
“Frank, I’m taking your car,” Nina called out as she passed her husband, checking her watch. She was running late.
“What’s wrong with yours?” Frank asked, taking a sip of his morning coffee.
“At the shop. I told you. They promised it’d be ready by Tuesday. Were you going anywhere today?”
“No, I’m off. The keys are on the shelf by the front door.”
“Thanks. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. And call Daphne, check how she’s doing. You’ve completely forgotten about your daughter,” Nina said as she slipped into her heels, grabbed the keys, and rushed out of the house.
Two months earlier, two new women had joined their yoga class and somehow they’d ended up becoming friends. Now every Sunday they met for coffee, traded gossip, and sometimes went shopping together. Nina really needed that. Her friends had long since scattered to different cities after getting married, and she herselfwasn't very sociable which made it hard for her to make new connections.
Nina got behind the wheel of her husband’s SUV and adjusted the seat.
She reached the restaurant quickly, flipped down the sun visor to leave her sunglasses there, since she kept losing them, and suddenly a folded sheet of paper slid down into her lap.
She unfolded it. It was a child’s drawing. Seriously? Had Frank really been carrying around Daphne’s old childhood artwork? Daphne was already eighteen. Yet the drawing looked like someone had carefully kept it all this time.
Nina gave a small, wry smile. Yeah, that was just like Frank. He loved his daughter more than anything in the world. And he consistently spoiled Nina, too.
She folded the sheet of sketch paper again and suddenly froze. On the back, written in neat handwriting, were the words:
“Ethan Osborne. Bunnies Class.”
Ethan? Who was that? Why did this boy have the same last name as they did? And why was this drawing in her husband’s car? They didn’t have any nephews or godchildren named Ethan.
Nina clenched the drawing, feeling a chill run down her spine.
She looked at the picture again. A child’s hand had drawn a sun, a little house, and three people: a man, a woman, and a boy. Nina swallowed the lump in her throat. For some reason, anxiety started to rise in her chest.
She shoved the sheet back where it had fallen, as if the physical action could ward off the rising tide of confusion, fear, and anger. Yes, anger. At what? At whom? At Frank? She didn’t know anything yet. It could’ve been anything. It had to be.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket and the vibration snapped her back to reality. Nina tried to calm down, quickly wiping her clammy palms on her denim, and looked at the screen. Nadine.
“Hello?” Nina’s voice sounded tight, and in her head she was already replaying all those stories she’d once read on women’s forums about cheating husbands. That was impossible though. Completely absurd. All Frank ever did was work and take care of her and their daughter.
“Where are you? We already ordered without you,” Nadine sounded bright and carefree, as if nothing strange or scary existed in the world.“Running late?”
“I’m already here. One minute and I’ll be inside.”
Nina got out of the car, feeling her knees tremble. She just needed to calm down. She took a deep breath and tried to pull herself together.
She decided she’d deal with this later. In the end, she’d ask Frank directly what that drawing was. It had to be something silly. So why had she gotten so worked up?
Nina walked into the restaurant still shaken and confused. But the moment she saw the girls, her foolish suspicions slipped into the background.
Vivian was talking to someone on the phone and nodded at Nina in greeting when she noticed her. Nadine immediately kissed Nina on the cheek.
“Are you free for an hour later? I need to pick out a dress for my sister’s wedding,” Nadine asked.
“Of course. I’ve got no plans today,”Nina replied.
She opened the menu and quickly flipped through the pages.
Vivian slipped her phone into her purse, looked up at Nina, and smiled.
“How are you doing? You weren’t at yoga this Thursday. Did something happen?” she asked.
