It felt jarring to discuss old acquaintances from her past life. Todd was an associate at Sherman & Associates. While Molly hadn’t been close to the couple, she knew Todd had missed making partner the previous year, and it had put a strain on his and Janet’s marriage.

“I hope seeing someone helps.”

Abruptly, Julia set her cup down and gave Molly the first direct look since she had arrived. “We don’t have the same connection anymore, do we? You’re not drinking with me, and I can see that you’re wondering why I had to come in the middle of the night.”

She tried to be diplomatic. “Don’t take it personally. Things have really changed for me, but it means a lot that you wanted to get together.”

Julia clasped her hands together on the table and looked at them. “I actually needed to tell you something.”

“So you said. What’s going on?”

“I owe you an apology. A really big one.” Julia’s knuckles whitened, and her voice shook. “I guess it’s one of the biggest apologies I’ve owed anybody in my life. Robert—my therapist—insisted I needed to talk to you as part of my healing. At first I resisted, but when he wouldn’t let it go, I realized he was right. I had to do this in person if I could.”

Molly frowned. “Okay, just spit it out. What’s wrong?”

Julia’s reddened gaze lifted to meet hers. “I’m the one who slept with Austin.”

For a moment the words didn’t sink in. Then Molly shook her head sharply. “You were the other woman? You always said you detested him.”

“I did!” Julia swiped at her nose and sniffled. “He was an asshole. He was never good enough for you.”

Molly’s stomach lurched. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

Julia barked out another wild, unsteady laugh. “That’s par for the course. Nothing I’ve done over the past few years has made much sense. I told myself it didn’t mean anything. He was going to cheat on you anyway, and I said it was just sex. Nasty sex, the kind you don’t ask your h-husband for, not when you’re a mother and your husband is chronically short on sleep from working too much and your five-year-old boy sleeps across the hall, and God, this is coming out all wrong.”

“Unbelievable,” Molly muttered.

The purple panties would have looked good on Julia, with her petite, rounded figure, pale skin, and dark hair. Remembering how Molly had found the panties that afternoon brought back an echo of the sharp, desolate pain.

Julia had been the one in her bed, cheating with her husband.