Chapter 2

I got dressed and walked out into the small duplex I shared with Matthew. He wasn't home yet, probably still at the factory where he worked as an engineer. His college degree made him a big deal in our small Rust Belt town, a place where most people, like me, worked with their hands.

I went to the local diner for a coffee, my mind racing. I needed to confirm my suspicions. The diner was the town's gossip hub, and it didn't disappoint.

Two women in the booth behind me were talking.

"Did you see Matthew Scott with Stella Todd again? Down by the department store."

"I did. He's buying her all sorts of things. I feel sorry for his fiancée, Annabel. She's such a sweet girl."

Sweet and stupid, I thought, sipping my coffee. The words didn't sting this time. They were just a confirmation of a reality I already knew.

I paid for my coffee and walked straight to Miller's Department Store. I didn't have to wait long. I saw them near the home goods section, standing close, his hand on the small of her back. Stella, with her practiced look of fragile beauty, was pointing at a set of expensive dishes.

I ducked behind a rack of winter coats, my heart a cold, steady drum. I could hear their conversation clearly.

"Matthew, are you sure we can afford this?" Stella asked, her voice a soft, manipulative whisper. "Annabel's money... what if she says no?"

"Don't you worry about Annabel," Matthew said, his tone confident and dismissive. "She'll do anything I say. I've got her completely wrapped around my finger. I just need to convince her to give her factory job to you. It's a union job, stable. You and Kevin need that."

Kevin was Stella's son. She was a young widow, a fact she used to its full advantage.

Stella's face lit up. "And the house?"

"Even better," Matthew bragged. "Her father was a union foreman, died in that accident a few years back. The union has a benefit for his family-the right to buy one of the old foreman houses for next to nothing. She doesn't even know about it yet. I'll get her to sign the rights over to me after the wedding, and the house will be yours. A proper home for you and my son."

My son. The words hit me, but not with pain. With clarity. He already saw her son as his. I was just the bank.

My first instinct, the old Annabel's instinct, was to run. To go to the bus station and just disappear.

But the new Annabel, the one forged in a lifetime of regret, had a better idea.

I turned and walked out of the department store, not towards the bus station, but straight to the union hall downtown.