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"Blindsided You?" My voice had an edge I didn’t like

"Blindsided" His voice had the sa here, Rox?"

"I caredients were still in the truck, in the hot afternoon sun! "Shit, I’ve gotta go get--"

"Whoa hoa, just hold on adown fro?"

"There’s probably butterall over the front seat!" I tried unsuccessfully to juet it--you stay here a minute That paste needs to harden or it’ll run all over the floor" He looked pointedly at the gooey paste "Don’t h and tossed hi Except for my eyes, which I rolled hard A sone And I was alone in his house With his daughter

What The Hell

The multitude of occasions he could have h my head like a newsreel In the next reel, all the occasions where anyone in town et Seriously, how could no one have hter had just unpacked, which meant she’d been away With her mother? Was Leo divorced? Separated? Still married?

Dread struck low inwith someone’s husband But no--Chad would have told

Just ask him

Yes, I would do just that But noondered what else Leo ht about it, it see had always happened athole

I felt a sharp pang inside s I’d done with Leo, and wondered if it was all over now

Get the intel

Right I took a deep breath, then looked around

The house was as beautiful inside as it was outside The chimney was the focal point of the entire lower level, stacked fieldstone with a gorgeous firebox lass bricks Rich chocolate broood floors, wide planked and shiny sreat room, anchored by deep built-in bookshelves, and comfortably plush couches and chairs scattered about in conversation areas The kitchen, which was filled with high-end appliances and work surfacespoured concrete, ide and open; the island counter I was sitting on was big enough to seat six coh to store a year’s worth of food, was covered top to bottonments, pictures draith crayon and marker

And pictures of the two of the a tiny Polly, rapped in a pink blanket, one clearly wailing and one absolutely beaers as she took what looked like her first steps Leo and Polly at the fars next to her, her very own spade sticking out of the earth Leo’s face was split by a wide grin in every one He was clearly over the htly so She was a pistol