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That explains why half their belongings have disappeared.

They’re in the process of sorting assets, and clearly the kids are living somewhere else half the time.

If I hadn’t seen the place with my own eyes, I never would have believed it.

April is constantly sharing stories about the kids and Chase.

I’m certain she’s posted photos online, masquerading as though everything is just fine.

She even said Chase sent her flowers to celebrate her writing news, that they were supposed to go out at the weekend.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s all too cliché, really. Chase is leaving me for another woman.

” She looks at me again, the hurt in her eyes replaced with a flash of anger.

“Right now, I’m just grieving the loss of what we had.

Every day I wake up, and I can’t believe this is my life.

We’re talking about selling the house. Chase has his own apartment.

I’m having to split time with the kids.” Her words come out so quickly then run into one another, and she has to take a deep breath to pause herself. “All this change is overwhelming.”

“I can’t even imagine.” I chuckle, leaning on humor to lessen the tension. “Although, this does explain why the husband keeps dying in all your stories.”

Thankfully, she laughs. “I guess what we’re feeling inside bleeds out onto the page, right?” She sighs, staring up at the family portrait again. “Anyway, I was having a pretty low day. As much as I wanted to come to group, I just couldn’t.”

I sit beside her, placing my hands over hers. “You don’t have to explain yourself. It’s good for you to take some time to process.”

“I thought I had a perfect life. We were so happy, until we weren’t, and I’m afraid that what we’re going through now will mess up the kids for the rest of their lives.”

“Lots of families find ways to navigate a divorce. You are a brilliant mother, April,” I say, sincerely. “Whatever you decide to do, I know you’re putting them first.”

“I’m trying,” she says. “It’s just still hard to admit it’s come to this.”

I don’t know what else to say. The only adult relationship I had was with Jasper, and even though he cheated, too, we didn’t have the history April has with Chase.

The foundation. It seems blasphemous to offer advice to someone who is going through this heavy a heartache. I settle on, “I’m here if you need me.”

“I appreciate that,” she says, smiling. “I know I can lean on all of you. I just haven’t wanted to admit we’re getting divorced out loud yet because then it becomes real.”

“At least you have the agent news to celebrate,” I say, trying to add some positivity to the conversation.

She smiles genuinely. “I know! I’m still excited about that. I swear, it came at a time when I really needed it. It’s true about one door closing, another opening. Maybe my career taking off is what I need to get me out of this funk.”

“It could be,” I say. “You really deserve it.”

“Thank you.” She nods toward her bowl. “And thank you for the soup. You must have a sixth sense or something. I’ve been too down to cook a meal, and here you come with exactly what I need.”

“I was just trying to be nice.”

A pang of guilt jars my insides. I wasn’t trying to be nice at all. I was merely investigating, suspicious of April’s involvement. It never occurred to me she was dealing with something so upsetting.

“While you’re here,” she says, standing and walking over to the fridge, “want to share a bottle of wine?”

“Sure.”

For the next hour, we sit at the breakfast bar sipping Sauvignon Blanc.

We don’t talk about divorce or kids or writing.

It’s all mindless stuff. What television shows we’re watching and new movies we want to see.

It seems like a nice way to ease the tension, and by the time I’m ready to leave, I’m confident April is in a much better mood than when I arrived.

“We should do this again,” she says as I’m putting on my coat. “Outside of the Mystery Maidens. When we’re together, all we talk about is writing. It would be nice to get to know the other parts of each other’s lives, too.”

“I agree,” I say, realizing her sentiment echoes the one Danielle made earlier tonight. Maybe I’m at the point in my life where I should finally start letting people in, but then I think of the black hearts, I remember what I came here to find out, and the thought flies away.

“About Chase,” she says, hesitantly. “Don’t mention it to the others.”

“I promise I won’t.”

“I’ll tell them, eventually. Right now, it just feels so embarrassing. Did I tell you he cheated on me with a girl I knew from college?”

“You’re kidding,” I say, shaking my head. “One of your friends?”

“In all fairness, we’re not friends now. We used to party together, ages ago. Still, who would have thought the girl I downed tequila shots with would break up my family?”

April tries to sound funny, like the situation is ironic, but I sense the hurt behind her words. My own stomach turns just imagining. “People change, that’s for sure. Never know what to expect.”

“Tell me about it.” She pours the last of the wine into her glass and leans back. “The worst part of it is I have to see her face every time I go on the highway.”

“What?”

“You know that realtor sign on I-40? That’s the girl.” She drinks half the glass in one gulp. “The biggest slut at WU turned Whitaker’s celebrity realtor.”

I turn quickly so April can’t see the reaction on my face. The realtor on that billboard is Crystal, my roommate. She’s the woman who broke up April’s marriage? A wave of dizziness puts me off balance as I realize more areas of my life are intersecting.

“That is awful,” I say, voice shaking. “How did you find out it was her?”

“Let’s just say I found messages between them,” she says. “Worse than the smut I read in my spare time.”

I smile weakly before returning to my car, my head swimming with new information.

Crystal and April are connected through Chase, and both have ties to me.

Worse than that, they’ve known each other since college.

I knew April had attended WU, but I’ve never put together she was there at the same time as me.

If she was acquaintances with Crystal, she would know about what happened ten years ago.

The idea that April has a connection to me I didn’t know about is unsettling.

Could she have been watching me this entire time?

In April’s quest to learn more about her husband’s mistress, could she have uncovered something about my past?

I try to recall our interactions over the past year, but the mystery only becomes more tangled in my mind.

I crank the ignition, ready to head home.

Yet, as I drive in the direction of downtown, I can’t help wondering about how easy it was for April to hide her ordeal from the rest of the group.

If you were to ask any of the other members, they’d assume she is happily married, the calm and collected Supermom of your Instagram feed’s dreams, just like I did.

She’s been struggling for months but was able to hide it.

How easy would it be for her to hide something else?