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Back The Mother Next Door Save as PDF
Chapters (84)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Author
  5. HALLOWEEN
  6. Seven Weeks Before Halloween
  7. ONE
  8. TWO
  9. THREE
  10. HALLOWEEN
  11. Six Weeks Before Halloween
  12. FOUR
  13. FIVE
  14. SIX
  15. HALLOWEEN
  16. Five Weeks Before Halloween
  17. SEVEN
  18. EIGHT
  19. HALLOWEEN
  20. NINE
  21. TEN
  22. HALLOWEEN
  23. ELEVEN
  24. TWELVE
  25. Twenty-Five Days Until Halloween
  26. THIRTEEN
  27. FOURTEEN
  28. HALLOWEEN
  29. FIFTEEN
  30. SIXTEEN
  31. SEVENTEEN
  32. EIGHTEEN
  33. NINETEEN
  34. TWENTY
  35. HALLOWEEN
  36. Eighteen Days Until Halloween
  37. TWENTY-ONE
  38. TWENTY-TWO
  39. HALLOWEEN
  40. TWENTY-THREE
  41. TWENTY-FOUR
  42. Eleven Days Until Halloween
  43. TWENTY-FIVE
  44. TWENTY-SIX
  45. Eight Days Until Halloween
  46. TWENTY-SEVEN
  47. TWENTY-EIGHT
  48. TWENTY-NINE
  49. HALLOWEEN
  50. THIRTY
  51. Four Days Until Halloween
  52. THIRTY-ONE
  53. HALLOWEEN
  54. THIRTY-TWO
  55. Two Days Until Halloween
  56. THIRTY-THREE
  57. The Night Before Halloween
  58. THIRTY-FOUR
  59. HALLOWEEN
  60. THIRTY-FIVE
  61. Halloween, Present Day
  62. THIRTY-SIX
  63. THIRTY-SEVEN
  64. HALLOWEEN
  65. THIRTY-EIGHT
  66. HALLOWEEN
  67. THIRTY-NINE
  68. HALLOWEEN
  69. FORTY
  70. HALLOWEEN
  71. FORTY-ONE
  72. FORTY-TWO
  73. FORTY-THREE
  74. FORTY-FOUR
  75. HALLOWEEN... NOW
  76. FORTY-FIVE
  77. Seven Months Later
  78. FORTY-SIX
  79. FORTY-SEVEN
  80. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  81. ALICE SWANSON’S
  82. Reader's Guide
  83. Questions for Discussion
  84. Booklist

The shop was packed. It was a local chain, with lots of small tables of solo customers with laptops and earbuds, quirky artwork on the walls, and free Wi-Fi.

Still, the buzz of a few group conversations and artsy jazz created a circle of privacy as we ordered our coffees—French roast for me and black as midnight for Greg—and snagged a table in the back. It was cozy—maybe too cozy. I prayed no teachers from Woodard would wander in and spy us. The last thing we needed was gossip about the principal’s wife.

“I don’t approve of them skipping school, but I am glad Lily and Ellen are getting along so well,” I said as we scooted our chairs up to the small table.

He grinned. “It’s weird, isn’t it? After everything. That you end up back here, and our kids are good friends?”

“I just wish she and I were getting along better,” I said. “I feel like I can’t do anything right by her lately.”

“Story of my life,” Greg said, taking the top off his coffee, adding six packets of sugar, and stirring with a small straw. “Perhaps I’ve given Eleanora too much leeway. She’s always been so independent.”

Abandoned was the word Kendra had used to describe Ellen. Surely she must have been exaggerating or mistaken. What Brad did to Lily and me—that was abandonment. But Jackie must’ve maintained some kind of relationship with her daughter over the years, even if it was minimal. People get divorced all the time, but that didn’t mean they stopped spending time with their kids.

“How often does she see her mom?” I asked.

He snorted. “Never.”

“Oh, Greg.” I frowned. So Kendra hadn’t been exaggerating. “Not even during summers or whatever?”

Greg shook his head. “Believe me, we’ve tried. Sometimes Jacqueline makes a half-hearted attempt, but she always ends up ghosting.” He sounded bitter.

“Poor Ellen,” I said. No matter how strained our relations were lately, at least I was still there for Lily. Trying. And always would be.

“Yeah, well, it is what it is.” He shrugged. “And honestly, I can’t blame her. I made my bed...you know. I was the asshole.”

We were the assholes. Memories played out in my mind: of him stopping by my place when Brad had a three-hour night class. Me airing out the apartment after he left—cold blast of night air through the window, a lavender candle burning—to get rid of that strong smell of cologne. I’d been a cheater, and I’d been the other woman.