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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

So I was right. It’s FinTech-Beyoncé-Bro, the man who is currently paying for my drink. I tilt my glass back at him. “Colin Mallard.”

“Like the duck,” he replies. I edge away from him, toward the corner of the rough-hewn countertop.

“Why aren’t you listening to your wife speak?”

He curls his hand over the bar and helps himself to some cherries, in full view of the bartender who does nothing to stop him. “I’ve listened to her practice this maybe ten times. I’ve also read the book ten times. She doesn’t care that I’m back here, I assure you.”

I stiffen my stance, put an arm defensively in front of myself, swivel my body away from Colin. The last thing I need is for someone to see me talking to another woman’s husband.

“We’re not all bad, I promise you.” He knows what I’m doing, or what I’m trying to prevent, and that makes me queasy, a shiver in my legs.

“Tom was my friend, a hard worker and an ass. And absolutely psychotic, it turns out. But we’re not all like him. I’m not. I’m a pretty good husband. I’ve never cheated, I do childcare, I listen to my wife practice her passage ten times. I believe women.” He tugs a cherry from its stem.

“Why are you telling me this?” I say, inching away, back toward the crowd of people.

“You’re so young. So beautiful. I don’t want you to write off men forever because of your experience.” And what a presumption to make, I want to say back, that I need your assurance. “Tom was a bad, weird egg. He only went after you to piss off Odilie. He told me that himself, that he was annoyed by her and wanted to play some mind games. I’m not sure what happened in the interim, what spell you cast on him, but his only goal, at first, was to get back at his wife.” He takes another cherry and I can see him prod it with his tongue, the way his mouth moves, his canines, inexplicably biting into the stem, too, this time.

The room warps, narrows. “I’m going to go back out now,” I say cheerfully, forcefully, taking my drink with me as I round my way out. He shrugs, doesn’t stop me.

All I see is red.

11

ODILIE

Ten years ago