The word was quiet and filled with regret.
His phone pinged and he lifted it a little dazedly. Not sure what he would do if it was Kenna finally responding to his unhinged texts and voice notes.
But it wasn’t Kenna.
It was his sister.
Tina
Yep. She’s enjoying her day out.
Smith reined in the urge to pepper her with questions.
The response he settled on was insipid, but the best he could do under the circumstances.
That’s good.
Tina’s next message was a photo.
And it stole Smith’s breath away.
Kenna, wearing a flowing, soft pink summery halter neck jumpsuit. Her back was to the ocean—it looked like Wilderness Beach—and the long strands of her glossy black hair were lifting in different directions, framing her laughing face like living tendrils.
He was riveted by her expression. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen her laugh like that. Way back in the beginning, perhaps. But definitely not since their marriage.
Despite her laughter, her beautiful eyes still held a trace ofsadness, but in that moment, Smith could tell that she was genuinely happy.
So fuckinghappywithout him.
Her left hand was up, pushing some of the more unruly strands out of her face and Smith sucked in a pained, panicked breath when he realized that her wedding rings were missing. Nothing on that slender finger but a pale band of sun-deprived skin where the rings once sat.
He made a soft, distressed sound of denial and his eyes dropped to where his own wedding band still gleamed on his finger in the late afternoon sunlight. The thought of removing it was…abhorrentto him.
He swallowed thickly. And his eyes were helplessly drawn back to the laughing image of his wife…soon-to-be ex-wife.
His eyes narrowed as he grasped another disturbing detail about the photograph. It was taken from too far away to be a selfie.
Who took this fucking picture?
Who the hell was getting the smiles and laughter that had so long been withheld from her own husband?
Did you take this picture?
Tina
What? Don’t be ridiculous, Smith. I’m working.
Well then…
Who the fuck took the photo?
Tina
Tina
You’re going to have to ask Kenny that question, brother. But I’m willing to bet she’s going to tell you that it’s none of your damned business.
He grimaced at the accuracy of that statement. Kenna was done having her pride cut into tiny pieces and having it force-fed back to her.
