One of Us Is Dead(16)

I stopped right in front of her, pulled out one of my AirPods, and immediately began stretching my quads and calves.

“Do you know what just happened?” she practically shouted.

I shook my head.

“I just got into a huge fight with Shannon at the salon, and Jenny took her side. Oh, and Crystal was there too.” She folded her arms in front of her chest and tapped her foot quickly on the ground as if she were impatiently waiting for me to come to her aid.

“Did you tell Shannon about her chairwoman position?”

“Of course not. I’m a woman of my word,” she said, lifting her chin.

“Then what happened?” I feigned interest.

I didn’t care about the Shannon and Olivia fight. I knew Olivia had it out for her. I was happy to hear Jenny shut that drama down. Good for her. I was only curious about the interaction between Shannon and Crystal. Shannon was my friend, and I could see Crystal being my friend too, and I thought maybe there was a chance they could one day get along, maybe even be pals—but then again, this was Buckhead.

“Shannon was being a total b-i-t-c-h to Crystal.” She literally spelled out the word. “I called her out, and then Jenny had the audacity to kick me out. Who the hell does she think she is?”

“Well, it is her salon,” I said. Olivia could be pretty unreasonable and if it got to the point that Jenny had to kick her out, then I assumed Olivia was being a monster. I took some deep breaths, regaining control from the run.

“I don’t give a damn if it’s her salon. Without me, she’d be nothing. You know that, Karen. I made her.”

I had never seen her this mad before. Olivia wasn’t used to people standing up to her, and I don’t think she’d ever been kicked out of anywhere her entire privileged life. I tilted my head. It was more like a half nod. Olivia liked to pretend she was God in that salon, but she had been an angel investor and she did bring a lot of clients to the salon, including myself. But that was years ago, and Jenny had made it what it is now.

“I have half a nerve to cancel my membership and get everyone else to cancel too,” she said with a huff.

Before I could say anything, Olivia spoke again.

“Obviously, I won’t do that.” She waved her hand in a dismissive way. “But I expect an apology out of her.”

Once again, I said nothing. I just stood there stretching out my arms and checking the time and stats on my Apple Watch. Olivia was the type of person that could have an entire conversation with herself and not even notice you hadn’t spoken.

“Well, I just wanted to warn you how wicked Shannon is being. You’d do well not to associate yourself with her.”

“Thanks for the heads-up. I have to get going.” I put my AirPod back in. “Mark will be home soon,” I said as I jogged away.

“Oh yes. Tell him I said hi.” She smiled and waved her fingers at me as she continued strutting down the street.



I ran up the driveway of our oversized redbrick Tudor home. It was homey yet large, yet relatively modest compared to our second home in Miami, where Mark’s other plastic surgery office was located. He left Sunday nights and returned typically on Wednesdays, so he could do three days in the Miami office and two in Atlanta. Although, this week he was back Thursday afternoon due to more appointments in Miami than Atlanta.

I walked right through the front door and found him sleeping on the couch. Mark and I had been married for over a decade but together for nineteen years. We fell in love in college, and I accompanied him when he got into medical school at Johns Hopkins. His feet were hanging off the couch thanks to his six-two stature. His light-brown hair was out of place, and the bags under his eyes were heavy. He worked too hard. I had hoped when we moved down south he’d live life at a slower pace, but he was still that overworked yuppie from New England. We were both still those people. I had my real estate company, and he had his plastic surgery offices. I knew we both needed to slow down. I leaned down and kissed his forehead. His eyes instantly shot open.

“Sorry, babe, I didn’t mean to wake you.”

He pulled me into him and kissed my lips.

“No need to apologize,” he said. Mark and I hadn’t been intimate in a while, so the kiss was a nice surprise. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I loved Mark, but lately, I never wanted to make love to him. I assumed my hormones were out of whack or I was too stressed for sex. I had reminded myself again to go to the doctor. I pulled him up from the couch.

“How did it go today?” he asked.

“I closed on that house on Foxcroft,” I said with a smile.

“That’s amazing, Karen. Congrats!” He gave me another peck on the lips. “Where’s Riley?” he added.

“He’s doing an overnight sleepover with some of the neighbor kids.”

I thought Mark was asking where Riley was because he wanted to make love to celebrate. The thought of it made me nervous, and I had no idea why.

“On a Thursday?”

“I know, but he begged me and gave me that cute little pouty face.” I smiled.

I wrapped my arms around Mark, and he winced.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Think I pulled something at the gym. I’m going to take a hot shower.”

“Want me to massage you?” I raised an eyebrow and bit my lower lip. I was trying . . . trying to seduce my husband, just to make sure there was nothing wrong with us or me. But deep down, I knew there was.