Contents (45)
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Four months later...
- Acknowledgments
“Please, call me Marie,” I call back. “You must be Jennifer, from the real estate agency?”
“Yes.”
I watch as she walks toward the entrance gate and replaces the For Sale sign with a Sold one.
Nina was right to rely on my loyalty because I never let her down. I promised her three things: I swore that I’d look out for her family and however possible, sabotage any new relationships and ensure that Stuart held on to their family home.
But I have no qualms about breaking one of my promises and selling the house—it’s just not the one I thought I’d break. After all, the house was her dream, not mine. I’m entitled to something of my own. This is my story now.
Acknowledgments
As always, there are many people to thank. I’m very fortunate to have the support and encouragement of my brilliant agent, Sophie Lambert. Her patience, insight and wisdom are limitless. The same can be said of the wonderful Wildfire team: Alex Clarke, Kate Stephenson and Ella Gordon; and at Graydon House, Brittany Lavery and the team in North America. Definitely included in this list are Hillary Jacobsen at ICM, Katie Greenstreet and Emma Finn. Grateful thanks also go to the wider teams at C&W Agency: Jake Smith Bosanquet, Kate Burton, Alexander Cochran and Matilda Ayris. Also to Dorcas Rogers and Tracy England for all their help. I appreciate your tireless hard work, dedication and passion. An enormous amount of teamwork goes into publishing a book, and I am grateful to everyone, including eagle-eyed copy editors Julia Bruce and Chris Wolfgang, and proofreaders Sarah Bance and Terra Arnone. Huge thanks to the fantastic team at Headline: Rosie Margesson, Jo Liddiard, Siobhan Hooper, Tina Paul and Rebecca Bader. And to the fantastic team at HarperCollins Canada: Leo MacDonald, Karen Ma, Cory Beatty and Kaitlyn Vincent.
Thanks are extended to the wider writing community: booksellers, librarians, readers, bloggers, reviewers, authors. Thank you for being so generous with your time. Thanks to my writing friends: my fabulous Faber group (five years since we first met!) and to the Ladykillers for the support and many laughs. Thank you to all the readers from around the world who take the time to get in touch.
A huge thank-you to Nicci Cloke (Phoebe Locke) for her patience, kind support and for the endless tech help (especially the time I sent photos of my laptop in a panic!). Thanks also to Nicci for introducing me to Arabel Charlaff, a psychotherapist who offers a service called Characters on the Couch. The therapy scenes in this book are partly a result of attending psychotherapy sessions in character and attending Arabel’s course at the Faber Academy. Thank you to Arabel for taking the time to answer my questions. Huge thanks also to Amanda Reynolds for all your help (another excellent listening ear).
Some more thank-yous: Graham for your photography advice and Susan for answering dog-related questions (and Amanda, too). To my mum and in-laws and to my wonderfully kind friends who helped out during the summer holidays childcare-wise: Henri, Lindsay and Nicolette.