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Buela helped watch Claire so that Mie and began a part ti at Colleen’s Bakery in town Those early years had been hard Zeke would coy to play with his little daughter so that Miht, they’d collapse in bed, too tired to do ht to one another But inevitably, soe her on the shoulder, or kiss her forehead, or better yet, she’d wake up to find his fingers or his s They’d make love, sometimes more than once, and end up exhausted and sweaty But they were happy

Zeke graduated from the police academy at the top of his class and went to work for the Panaht shifts and took all the overti private security on his off days Miree and transferred to the University of West Florida in Pensacola, where she was able to colish About that ti Bay’s sht a modest little house close to the beach that had been in foreclosure and Mi it up

They’d been married al couples hadn’t been able to Momma and Daddy had eventually coe as a belated wedding gift “It’s about the sa,” Daddy had said Zeke had refused to take the money, but Mimi persuaded hie fund for their children

Then Buela died suddenly of a heart attack and it hit the Grant fae, and Minant with a new baby Buela left Allie and Zeke a life insurance policy that allowed Allie to pay for college and even travel around the world on her sue and invested as left They weren’t rich, but they were coh that Mimi could stay home with the kids and Zeke didn’t have to work a second job anymore

The years went by and they settled into a comfortable routine Miue and soccer They went on faht a minivan When the old chief retired, Zeke was promoted to his current job And because life is so not fair, over tirays around the teet better with age

At nineteen he’d been gorgeous the way youngchin and piercing dark eyes As a rew to be exceptional With the years came a confidence only hinted at before Men respected him and people liked him (maybe not Bruce and Larry and the other members of the city council, but that was because they couldn’t bend Zeke to their will) And worown used to the idea that women envied her

And it wasn’t just the Betty Jeans of Whispering Bay That she could laugh off Once, Mimi found a pair of black lace bikini underwear (certainly no laughing matter) in the pocket of Zeke’s jeans She’d never had reason to suspect that Zekeevidence of those panties (while h to make her distrust her husband Still She needed to know exactly whose they were and how they ended up in Zeke’s possession

So she confronted hi these” She held the panties up by the inside label with the tips of her fingers, like they were going to explode

Zeke had glanced up fro paper He chuckled and shook his head “Those belong to soe”

“And?” she prompted

“And, I went to fill the car with gas and when I was paying, she slipped the with my receipt”

“So you put them in your pocket?”

“What the hell else was I supposed to do? There were people in line behind me Should I have tossed them in the trashcan in front of an audience? I shoved ‘eot about them”

“You forgot about the you!”

“No shit C’mon, Mimi, be real You can’t be jealous of a pair of skanky panties”