Tonya’s mouth opened, no doubt breathing out microscopic peanut particles from her breakfast. “How do you know?”

She couldn’t possibly care, Imani thought. No one could be this invested in eating PB&J—or winning an argument. “Philip worked at the restaurant at the time.”

“What post?”

Was she testing her? Imani wondered. “I don’t know. A low one. He wasn’t even really cooking yet.”

“Garde-manger?” Tonya asked.

Imani waved a hand, dismissing Tonya’s comment. She’d had enough of this tangent. Clearly, her renter had sensed that she’d wanted to talk about something serious—something warranting her immediate departure from the house. Tonya was attempting to distract her, buying time until the kids returned from school, no doubt in hopes that Imani wouldn’t kick her out in front of Layla.

“I didn’t want to talk about peanuts,” Imani said. “What I’d like to discuss is Nate. I met with your friend Micky. He explained the situation.”

Tonya’s big blue eyes grew impossibly larger. “What situation?”

Asking questions was Tonya’s arguing tactic, Imani thought. Don’t admit or deny anything, just keep playing the wide-eyed ingenue. “Nate sleeping with you—”

“He used my name? He wouldn’t—”

“He said his friend. I figured out that it was you after I recognized him from the restaurant.” Imani grabbed her purse off the back of her chair and rounded the table. She didn’t like the large piece of furniture between them, trapping her in a corner while giving Tonya rein to run upstairs or into the kitchen to grab God only knew what. Earlier, Imani had moved the big butcher knife from her meeting with Micky into her handbag.

“As I’m sure you can understand, I can’t live with someone who was having an affair with my friend’s husband.” Imani moved her hand closer to the bag’s mouth, in case Tonya got violent.

The woman chewed her bottom lip, shaving another few years from her already youthful face with the uncertain fidget.

“I didn’t have an affair with him.” Tonya’s voice was quiet. “That’s not true. Mike wouldn’t have said that.”

“He made clear that you two had a sexual relationship.”

“We didn’t.”

Imani had expected Tonya to excuse her behavior, rather than outright deny it. Surely, Tonya had to assume that Imani had guessed Layla’s parentage and put together the reason why her child support, had suddenly run out.

“Come on, Tonya. You can’t deny it. I get that it’s embarrassing to carry on with a married man and that it wasn’t all your fault. Mike said that Nate pushed you into performing sex acts with him during auditions by dangling the prospect of getting a role in his movies. But the evidence is Layla.”