as Amanda pulled away from the curb. More horns blared. A four-door sedan fishtailed. Sara could see a teenager in the back seat. The girl’s hands pressed against the window. Her mouth gaped open in terror. Another car was coming from behind, speeding, but swerved at the last moment. Sara locked eyes with the young girl, then the sedan straightened and drove away.
Betty was shaking, and Sara wasn’t much better off. She tried to soothe the dog as she walked toward Will’s street, holding it close, pressing her lips to its head. Both of their hearts were pounding wildly. Sara wasn’t sure what was making it worse—thinking about what might have happened between her and Will or the bad accident Amanda Wagner had nearly caused.
She’d have to watch the news when she got home to find out what was going on. Surely, wherever Will was going, the news vans would follow. Amanda was a deputy director with the GBI. She didn’t ride around looking for her agents on a whim. Sara imagined Faith, Will’s partner, was probably doing her own mad rush to the crime scene right now.
She had forgotten to ask for his house number, but thankfully, Betty’s collar had a tag with the details. Even without that, she easily spotted Will’s black Porsche parked in a driveway toward the end of the street. The car was an older model that had been fully restored. Will must have washed it today. The tires were gleaming and her reflection bounced off the long nose of the hood as she walked past.
She smiled at his house, which she’d never seen before. He lived in a red brick bungalow with an attached garage. The front door was painted black. The trim was a buttery yellow. The lawn was well tended with sharp edges and sculpted shrubs. A colorful flower bed circled the mimosa tree in the front yard. Sara wondered if Angie Trent had a green thumb. Pansies were hardy plants, but they had to be watered. From the sound of it, Mrs. Trent wasn’t the type to stick around for that kind of thing. Sara wasn’t sure how she felt about that, or even if she understood it. Still, she heard her mother’s nagging voice in the back of her head: An absent wife is still a wife .
Betty started to squirm as Sara walked up the front path. She tightened her grip. That was all she needed to make the day worse—lose the dog that belonged to the wife of the man she’d just been longing to kiss in the middle of the street.
Sara shook her head as she climbed the front steps. She had no business thinking about Will this way. She should be glad Amanda Wagner had interrupted them. Early on in their marriage, Jeffrey had cheated on Sara. It had nearly ripped them in two, and putting their relationship back together had taken years of hard work. For better or worse, Will had made his choice. And this wasn’t a fly-by-night romance, either. He had grown up with Angie. They had met in the children’s home when they were kids. They had almost twenty-five years of history together. Sara didn’t belong between them. She wasn’t going to make another woman feel the same pain she had, no matter how dismal her other options.
The key easily slid into the front lock. A cool breeze met her as she walked through the doorway. She set Betty on the floor and took off her leash. Freed, the dog made a beeline for the back of the house.
Sara couldn’t control her curiosity as she looked around the front rooms. Will’s taste definitely ran toward the masculine. If his wife had contributed to the decorating, it certainly didn’t show. A pinball machine was given pride of place in the center of the dining room, just under a glass chandelier. Will was obviously working on the machine—the electronic guts were neatly laid out by an open toolbox on the floor. The smell of machine oil filled the air.
The couch in the living room was a dark brown ultra-suede with a large matching ottoman. The walls were muted beige. A sleek black recliner was turned toward a fifty-inch plasma