Faith’s eyes narrowed. “And it’s not as if you hear Gabby’s voice in your head sometimes . . . judging you.”

What the hell? “No. Really, no.”

“Okay.”

Sure, she was a bit obsessed about Gabby, but she’d never told anyone that. There was no way Faith could know. “Not at all. No.”

“So, no?”

Jessa ignored the laughter in Faith’s voice. “Right. If I wasn’t clear, I’m going with no.”

“And I’m weighing my words carefully here.” Faith smiled, but it quickly disappeared again. “Let’s just say if your firm represented my girlfriend, wife, partner, or whatever—the pretend one I don’t have because I’m exhausted and don’t want to fight over who gets the bathroom first in the morning—I’d be pissed.”

“That’s totally different.” Jessa gave up on relaxing. She set the wineglass down when she realized she held it in a death grip. “We’re close. I barely know Gabby.”

Okay, not really the truth, but Jessa had invested a lot of time in selling that to her office, to Covington, and to the court. She wasn’t about to engage in a self-assessment and back down now.

“I love you, but you’re in denial or feeling guilty because . . .” Faith held up a hand when Jessa tried to take over the conversation. “Despite all your protests to the contrary, you and Gabby were more than general acquaintances. I’m not judging. Just saying, I was there—not in law school, but as your friend, so I know.”

That’s not how Jessa saw the relationship with Gabby at all. It was an understated, unspoken thing. Really, it was more of a problem. Her problem, and she didn’t even know why she had it. Gabby didn’t deserve this much of her time or attention.

“I think you’re revising history a bit to make yourself feel better about helping to screw her in the divorce.” Faith started counting on her fingers. “You did moot court competitions together. You had that study group. You went to—”

Jessa’s cell phone buzzed, but she ignored it. “We weren’t . . . I mean, I didn’t consider her . . .”

“Uh-huh.” Faith nodded at the cell. “Answer the phone while you make up an answer.”

Jessa grabbed on to the diversion, hoping her brain would kick into gear and she’d come up with something intelligent to say. Then she saw the name of the caller. “Shit. It’s my office.”

Faither rolled her eyes. “Of course it is. After ten on a Thursday night. A totally reasonable time for a work call.”

“Hello?”

Covington’s stern voice broke across the line. “There’s been an accident.”

Chapter Fifteen
Jessa