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“GOD, this is why I never wear shoes this high,” Rhiannon complained, pulling o her heels the moment they returned to the cottage. “I’m glad we were sitting at that boring ass dinner for the last hour and a half or I would’ve needed a tow truck to bring me back.”

“You hid your discomfort well,” Carmela replied as she kicked o her own shoes and sat on the couch, tucking her legs underneath her. “I would’ve thought you were enchanted by that cardiologist who talked your ear o .”

Rhiannon plopped down on the other end of the sofa. “I guess I’ve gotten really good at faking it.”

“I suppose that’s good to know,” she replied with a chuckle.

Rubbing her feet, Rhiannon grinned. “So,” she said in the kind of tone that made it obvious she was changing the subject, “how did it feel to see your ex-wife again after . . .

how long?”

Carmela sighed. She knew exactly how long it had been, but she didn’t want to remember the circumstances. “Almost four years now. Since the day we signed divorced papers.”

“Was it messy?” Rhiannon asked as she rubbed her other foot.

“Not really. Once she moved out a few months after I confronted her about the a air she was having with her personal trainer, of all people” — she sco ed — “so unoriginal.” Carmela left out the part about forgiving the cheating. “Anyway, a lawyer friend of hers drew up the paperwork shortly after that. She kept what was hers and I kept what was mine. The funds in our shared accounts were split down the middle. Our entire relationship amounted to seven sheets of paper, and most of that was boilerplate language.” The memory usually led to tears, but Carmela was surprised to feel nothing. It wasn’t any more or any less than sharing any other fact about her life.

“Wait . . .” Rhiannon lunged forward, openly intrigued.

“Personal trainer? So not the famed urologist Dr. Vera Lerner of keycard fame?”

Carmela chuckled. She never imagined being able to laugh about this. “Nope. I have no idea when she roped her, or when the novelty of Tania the Trainer wore o . Maybe she got tired of pretending to give a crap about health and fitness. Too much work.”

“And you didn’t feel anything seeing her again? Was it what you expected?”

“Honestly, I’m not sure what I expected to feel. I was so stuck in the dreaded unknown. There was no doubt in my mind I was over her after a solid year of weekly therapy, but maybe I worried I’d be jealous or something,” Carmela admitted as she worked it out aloud.

“And did you feel jealous?” Rhiannon’s gray eyes were fixed and intent. The answer mattered to her, and Carmela

answered without hesitation.

“Not even a little bit,” she replied with a laugh. “I used to think she was the most enchanting, beautiful woman in the world. Seeing her now, acting like a completely di erent person, I realize that she’s just a chameleon. Changing herself to fit in whatever environment suits her at any given moment. Frankly, I feel really bad for Vera. She seems like a kind person. Jackie is going to eat her alive. Part of me wonders if I should tell her to run while she still has a chance, but I didn’t listen when Liz told me. There’s no chance she’ll listen to the jilted ex.”

Cocking her head to one side, Rhiannon asked a follow up question. “Liz never liked her?”

Carmela shook her head. “Liz is annoyingly good at reading people. It’s like a superhuman skill she has, but I was already smitten when I introduced them. Too late to listen to her sense. I was actually a pretty big brat about it.

Accused her of being homophobic.” Heat flooded Carmela’s face. “Not my proudest moment, and I haven’t let go of the shame around that, but I was just so sure she was wrong about Jackie. That she didn’t see her like I did. I can’t explain what she does. She’s like a spider that poisons you slowly, and now that her fangs are out and the haze cleared, I can’t understand how I ever even liked her . . . much less loved her.”

Rhiannon was quiet for so long Carmela started getting nervous. Did I say too much? She replayed what she’d said ten times but couldn’t pinpoint where she’d

gone wrong.

“So you’re definitely over her then?” she finally asked.

“I’m so over her I don’t know why I was ever under her,”

Carmela joked, making them both laugh.

“Good,” Rhiannon said, getting to her feet. “I’m exhausted. Ready for bed?”

Half an hour and two showers later, Carmela was standing on one side of the bed in her pajama pants and camisole. Rhiannon was on the opposite side in a Goode College t-shirt and tiny pink shorts that barely did their job.

“So how are we going to do this?” Carmela asked as she stared at the bed.

Rhiannon laughed as she rubbed lotion on her arms. “I’m pretty sure there’s only one way to lay down and go to sleep, Carm.”

Carmela narrowed her eyes. “I move around in my sleep a lot.”