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She doesn’t know h, so she doesn’t appreciate the peril she’s in A tear slips down her cheek, and she dashes it away “Myanother woman outside of her hotel rooator she hired He had receipts and copies of text es and emails between you and that woman”

“What?” I whisper, feeling

“My ator,” she blabs, but I can only focus on one word

Mom

Her mom

The woht I was a distraction to her daughter

“You were followed Your phone was hacked, and there were e report And like I said… I saw a photo of you hugging a woman outside—”

“Where is it?” I interrupt

“What?”

My words come out harsh and clipped “Where is the photo? The report? I know damn well you probably saved it all After all, you put a lot of da I was never shown so I could defend myself”

Joslyn opens her mouth, perhaps to deny, then snaps it shut just as fast She pivots and stalks stiffly off the patio without a word I follow behind her

She leads reat room, and then to her study It’s the only room in her house I found to be messy and lived in Scattered sheets of paper are all over her desk with song lyrics scribbled out inShelves stocked full of books—fiction and non-fiction alike A stack of unread azines on the floor A heap of unread mail on the credenza behind her desk A recipe book on the sill with yellow post-it notes flagging certain pages of interest

Yeah… she spends a lot of time in here

Joslyn sets her wine down on her desk beforeto a set of built-ins She pulls open a drawer that holds hanging files, then rifles through to one near the back With an audible sigh, she pulls it free, turning to face me

Slowly stretching an arm out, she hands me the file I set my beer down, then take the folder from her

It’s blue with an expanding, reinforced spine, yet the contents inside are so thin they’d have fit in an envelope I glance up to see Joslyn watching me with her arms crossed protectively around her midsection