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Prologue

Hallie couldn’t find the packet of papers she needed to give her boss She re it into her tote bag Although the bag was in the trunk of her car, the envelope wasn’t in it

As she stood in thelot, she went over everywhere she’d been thatTo the pharmacy to pick up her stepsister’s favorite hair conditioner, to the dry cleaners to get the skirt Shelly had stained And she’d stopped by the garage to ask yet again when Shelly’s car was going to be ready so she could run her own damned errands

Hallie took a breath to cals in the trunk—all of them full of her stepsister’s clothes, unopened bills, shoes, and beauty products—but none of them contained the envelope full of papers

She closed the trunk and turned away Tooto be too o, everything had been chaos Hallie was a ht Hallie needed quiet to study for her exa noise The car Shelly had driven back from California was in such bad condition that she’d wanted to have it toay “I’ll just borrow yours,” she said, then left the room before Hallie could protest

But then Shelly hadShe wanted Hallie to sell the house and split the ed his will after he’d married Shelly’s ally the house ht not be half hers, but it certainly was morally

“He was my father too,” Shelly said, tears in her thickly lashed eyes As a pretty little girl, she’d perfected the look of sadness that rew up to be an even prettier young woe people

But Hallie had never fallen for her act “Cut it out!” she said “It’sto seduce”

With a sigh, Shelly sat up straight and the tears instantly ceased “Okay, so let’s talk about you Think what you could do with your half of the money You could travel, see the world”

Hallie leaned back against the car and turned her face up to the sun It was spring and the trees of New England were bursting into bud

Her stepsister’s attitude of here’s-so-else-you-can-do-for-, pleading, and at tier made Hallie want to throw up her hands and call a Realtor She’d shown on paper that if she sold the house, by the tiet to buy a new roof and repair the plu and electrics, they would barely break even But Shelly had just waved her hand and said houses in LA sold for millions

But in the last teeks Shelly had been cal Hallie about her work as a physical therapist, saying, “What would you recommend for a man with a torn-up knee?”

“Describe the injury to me,” Hallie said, and Shelly had read about it from an email she’d received Pleased by her stepsister’s interest, Hallie had outlined the lengthy rehabilitation the man would need

Although Shelly wasn’t forthco with the details, Hallie assumed that her stepsister had a friend who’d been injured Whatever the reason, it had been nice to have sooal Hallie began to think that her life was at last coether She’d finally finished her coursework, passed her exams, and received her Massachusetts physical therapy license And next week she was going to start a job at a small local hospital

She glanced at her watch She had just enough tiet the papers and make it to the office before Dr Curtis left for the weekend As she drove, she thought it was exhilarating to i a whole new life New career, new job, neorld Only it wasn’t actually new Her job was close to the house she’d lived in all her life, and she’d be working with people she’d gone to school with And her stepsister also planned to stay in the area “You’re the only family I have left,” Shelly said Hallie knew that meant her stepsister would be at her house for every holiday, weekend, and catastrophe in Shelly’s very dramatic life

Hallie believed in looking on the positive side of life, but so for a job in some faraway, exotic place

When Hallie turned down her street, she immediately noticed the blue BMW parked in front of her house It stood out froravel

Across the road, Mrs Westbrook was opening her mailbox “Braden’s home,” she called before Hallie could pull into the driveway “You should come over and say hello”