She knew how this worked. There would be endless gossip. In the past she’d even been the subject of a women’s daytime chat show: Successful women who stay with men who cheat.

Joanna had watched it, appalled, not recognizing the woman they were describing. Apparently she was a doormat, a coward, a disgrace to women. Where was her strength? Her dignity?

To them she wasn’t a person, she was a story. She was ratings, sales, a commercial opportunity, a talking point. They weren’t interested in the truth. They focused on one angle and one alone.

They didn’t know anything about her relationship. They didn’t know anything about her life before she’d met Cliff. They weren’t interested in the fact that she’d had her own ambitions. They didn’t know that although Cliff had been the face of the business, it had been her hard work that had made him famous. Now there was a popular TV show, a chain of expensive restaurants, branded cookware, cookery books... The franchise had grown like a monster.

“Please, Joanna, I can’t do this without you.”

He was the face of the company, but she was the engine.

She kept everything going, and he knew it.

Had known it, she reminded herself. It was in the past tense now. There was no more Cliff.

Why did you crash, Cliff? Were you driving too fast?

Nessa put a glass of water in front of her. “It’s a crappy situation, boss, no doubt about that. But, as my mom always says, no matter how bad things get there’s always someone worse off than you. I hate it when she says that. Super-annoying, actually. But I have to admit that mostly she’s right. And although it’s true that right now I wouldn’t want to be you—”

“Thank you, Nessa.”

“Do you know who I definitely wouldn’t want to be?” She tilted her head and gave Joanna a knowing look. “That girl in the car. Don’t know who she is, or what she was doing, but I would not want her life.”

The girl in the car.

Joanna didn’t know who she was or what she’d been doing, either.

The one thing she did know was that, even though he was dead, Cliff Whitman had still managed to ruin her day.

Don’t miss

Beach House Summer

by USA TODAY bestselling author

Sarah Morgan,

available May 2022 wherever

Harlequin Books and ebooks are sold.

www.Harlequin.com

Copyright © 2021 by Sarah Morgan

Also by Sarah Morgan

The Summer Seekers

One More for Christmas

Family for Beginners

A Wedding in December

One Summer in Paris

The Christmas Sisters

How to Keep a Secret

From Manhattan with Love

Moonlight Over Manhattan

Holiday in the Hamptons

New York, Actually

Miracle on 5th Avenue

Sunset in Central Park

Sleepless in Manhattan

Puffin Island

One Enchanted Moment

Some Kind of Wonderful

First Time in Forever

The O’Neil Brothers

Maybe This Christmas

Suddenly Last Summer

Sleigh Bells in the Snow

Look for Sarah Morgan’s next novel
Beach House Summer
available soon from HQN.