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Back A Small Affair Save as PDF
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. Part Two
  22. 1
  23. 2
  24. 3
  25. 4
  26. 5
  27. 6
  28. 7
  29. 8
  30. 9
  31. 10
  32. 11
  33. 12
  34. 13
  35. 14
  36. 15
  37. 16
  38. 17
  39. 18
  40. 19
  41. Part Three
  42. 1
  43. 2
  44. 3
  45. 4
  46. 5
  47. 6
  48. 7
  49. 8
  50. 9
  51. 10
  52. EPILOGUE
  53. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  54. Booklist

I feel a burp, cover my mouth with my hand. This is insane. But Sam is right. If there was some public proclamation of my friendly relationship with the Pattersons, then I might be able to get a job again. I wouldn’t be such a fucking leper. I could help Page do whatever she needed to do to move through this whole quagmire. And from the looks of it, that didn’t seem to be much except drinking, giving her pointers on how to fit in with Odilie’s buddies and making sure she doesn’t look like a mall rat from the boonies.

“Okay, okay. But I need support with this. I’m not getting myself twisted up in this girl’s crazy unless I know we have a game plan.” Quinn and Sam nod in response.

“Whatever you’re most comfortable with,” Quinn says solemnly.

Sam’s eyes are gleaming. “Text Page. Say you want to hang out. The sooner, the better.” I grab my phone, but there’s already a text from her, no greeting just a simple missive:

Odilie’s neighbor, Ruthie Carroll, invited me to dinner with her and some of Odilie’s book club friends. Help?

5

ODILIE

Ten years ago

Odilie didn’t hear from Peri for days.

Every moment she was alone, she checked her phone, cradled it, threw it on her bed and watched it bounce to the floor. She hid it underneath couch cushions so she wouldn’t check it, powered it down and watched TV for hours so she wouldn’t look at it.

And every time, when she checked, there was no new message.

Her roommate, Kitty, didn’t seem to notice Odilie’s silence. She prattled on as they watched The Bachelor together, their weekly tradition, pointing out the girls she thought were desperate, the ones she thought were slutty, the ones she thought had a fighting chance. Odilie had known Kitty all of her life; they were supposedly best friends. They’d both waded through school together, on the outskirts of the social scene, occasionally invited to parties, never creating waves, their names easily forgotten by their other peers whom they’d known all their lives.

Kitty was also taking classes at the community college and working for her father, who owned the convenience store in town. Up until this point, Odilie thought she liked Kitty. She knew everything about her, her favorite movies and the odor her feet gave off if she skipped a day of showering. But hearing Kitty now, her voice whining in Odilie’s ear, Odilie wished to swat her, crush her so her blood burst, like an engorged mosquito.