Page 107 of The Body in the Backyard

“He wasn’t sick. He was naked. In the hot tub. And it wasn’t with Bella either. It was with another woman.” Li-Mei burst into tears.

A stunning young woman with waist-length blond hair shot to her feet. “It was me. I was in the hot tub,” she said with what to Riley’s untrained ear sounded like a Russian accent. “I met him at a remote broadcast from a car dealer earlier that week.” Her jaw jutted forward.

“We were both yelling at him when Bella came home. He made both of us hide from her in the bushes,” Li-Mei pressed on. A tear slid down her cheek. “I was humiliated.”

“I was mad. I did a poop in his driveway when I left,” the blond announced proudly.

The woman next to the blond jumped to her feet. She was scowling. “My name is Rose, and I didn’t sleep with Griffin Gentry, but he still screwed me. I’m an interior designer, and he hired me to decorate his office at Channel 50. It was some of my best work. I spent months on it, and then the asshole refused to pay. I got lawyers involved until it got too expensive. Then the studio blew up, and now I’m out twenty thousand dollars in design fees plus another ten grand in legal fees. I wish he would have blown up with that custom leather ottoman,” she snarled.

“Okay, well, thank you all for sharing,” Kiki said. “What do we say to our sisters?”

“We’re sorry Griffin Gentry sucks,” everyone said in unison.

“Thank you,” Li-Mei whispered.

The blond high-fived Rose.

“Ohhhhhh! Griffin Gentry sucks. Now I get it. I’m up to speed,” Blossom said a few chairs down.

“A new member, how lovely,” Kiki said. “We’d love it if you would share your Griffin Gentry story.”

Riley sank lower in her chair. “Oh no.”

“Well, it’s not really my story so much as my daughter’s,” Blossom said, rising from her chair and waving her hand in Riley’s direction. “That’s her. My daughter Riley.”

“Hi, Riley,” everyone around the table said.

Riley managed a weak wave and wished she had an armed robbery to thwart right now.

“That’s my other daughter, Wander. And I’m Blossom.”

“Hi, Wander. Hi, Blossom.”

“Hello. Hi. So nice to be here,” Blossom said, preening under the attention.

“What brings you and your daughters to our group tonight?” Kiki asked magnanimously.

“Oh, well, Riley was married to Griffin a few years back,” Blossom began. The collective gasp egged her on. “I know, right? I mean, I’m sorry, sweetie, but what were you thinking? Actually, what were any of us thinking? I mean who decided the construct of marriage was a good idea? You’re just going to pick a stranger, decide to start a life and maybe a family with them, then before you know it, you’re arguing over whose farm animals are more problematic.”

Wander hid her face in her hands.

“The cards sayyou’re going to be just fine, Laurel,” Blossom said as she gathered up her tarot deck. “You just need to remember, self-worth comes from within, not without. Now who’s next?”

“Laurel, right?” Riley asked when the teary-eyed brunette got up from the table. She looked like a fitness influencer in her mulberry workout tights and matching cropped sweatshirt. Her long hair was slicked back from her face in a low ponytail.

“Yeah. Your mom is amazing,” she said, digging a tissue out of her bag and dabbing at her eyes. “I’ve just been in such a dark place the past few months. I have the worst taste in men, and it cost me my dogs.”

“About that…” Riley began.

“How did it go?”Wander asked when Riley returned from the parking lot. Her sister had procured a matcha latte from the coffee stand and was watching from a safe distance while Blossom finished up a tarot reading for a pair of sisters who both had the misfortune of falling under Griffin’s spell.

“Good. The yappers are—thank you, universe—back with their mom, who was so grateful, she confirmed that there’s nothing Theodoric wouldn’t do to get revenge for a wrong. She said in high school, he ran his own cousin off the road after he scored higher on his SATs than Theodoric did.”

Riley believed her. From what she was able to read through Laurel, Ingram was exactly the kind of person who would do something like hire a contract killer.

Wander grimaced. “He sounds like a challenging personality.”

A throat cleared gently behind them. They turned to find Kiki holding a pink balloon. “Riley, is it?”