It surprised Holly that she could still be surprised. Who hadn’t the man interfered with? But never her. She’d been with Ted for years before she even met Jerry. At the Governor’s Ball, after the Oscars—she was pregnant, big as a house. She hadn’t wanted to go, but Ted had told her over and over how beautiful she was like this, happy and glowing. She’d hired Rio—the first time they worked together—and he’d brought her a gown to try, cerulean blue, off the shoulder, her breasts filling out the bodice like they never had before, yards of silk cascading over her bump like a waterfall. In an instant, she went from tired and crabby to luscious. All night everyone told her how lovely she looked, except for Jerry, who looked and talked past her like she was a piece of furniture.

But he’d got his hands on Phoebe. Those words did their work, painting a picture—of dirty fingers, grabbing and pawing, and Phoebe, inert and helpless as a stuffed animal.

Holly shuddered. “That must have been awful for you,” she said.

Ted closed the space between them. He reached out and she watched his hand travel, in awe, as if it were a bullet in slow motion. Then it landed, on her waist of all places. He gave her a little push, nudging her away from the broken glass.

“Poor thing,” she said again. He moved with her, still touching her. He rounded his fingers and stroked the fabric of her dress with his thumb. She put her hands on his arms.

“She thinks I wasn’t supportive enough. She says I blamed her for how she was dressed and all of that—but I swear I didn’t mean to. Maybe I did, I don’t know. I was just in so much shock.” His voice had changed. He was speaking to Holly now, only to her.

“Of course. Then what happened?”

“I had to finish the film. There would have been penalties if I didn’t. And she left town, you see? For good, I thought.” They were swaying together, almost dancing. She put her head on Ted’s shoulder.

“But then later,” he went on, “she did come back and she took her movie to some other people. Those people came to me. I didn’t ask them to, they just did. Because it’s a small town, right? You know that. Like today with Vic. Sometimes, you just have to move on. And I just thought it would be better if Phoebe moved on. If we all did.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Holly said, but she didn’t understand. The pieces of his story were jumbled up in her brain. What he said didn’t make sense. Phoebe hadn’t moved on. All day she’d been popping up places like a vengeful ghost.