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is,” she said with a trace of laughter in her voice.
    “Of course you do. Anyway, I’m calling to invite you to a little get-together at my house this Saturday night to celebrate my promotion. It will be a good opportunity for you to meet some new people, and spend some time with the old ones who really want to get to know you again.”
    “Like you?” She wound the phone cord through her fingers.
    “Desperately,” he admitted.
    She smiled. “I’ll be there.” She grabbed a pen and wrote down his address. As she hung up the telephone, Nick walked in the door.
    “Do you want to go to a party with me this Saturday night?”
    “Whose?”
    “Caleb Smith.”
    His response was swift. “No thank you. Besides, I’m working all weekend. Even if I weren’t, my answer would still be the same.”
    “What have you got against Caleb?”
    “He’s a sleazy whore,” he answered easily. “But you go, and have a good time.” He turned abruptly and went back outside. The door slammed closed behind him.
    Whether the tension between the two men had happened recently or Nick still held a grudge after twenty years, it was his own demon to deal with. When Nick had chosen another over her, she had compensated with Caleb, and would make no apologies for it, just as he had made no apologies for breaking her heart.

Chapter Four

    On Saturday morning, Lynsey slipped out of the house early to make the hour-long drive to the supermall in the city of Mount Pleasant. She wanted to pick up a congratulatory gift to celebrate Caleb’s promotion, as well as an outfit to wear at his party that would knock the socks off any of Unity’s most eligible bachelors who might be in attendance. Lynsey Reznor was a woman who was determined to be a wife by the end of the year.
    She found the dress at a small designer boutique, a grape-colored silk sheath that looked deceptively plain on its hanger, but once on, looked to be expertly cut exactly for her figure. She paired it with matching silk shoes. The outfit was pricey, but she wanted to make a first impression that would last beyond the night.
    For Caleb, she chose a gold pen and had his initials engraved onto it while she waited.
    It was afternoon when she returned to the empty house. She hadn’t seen much of Nick during the past week. She wondered if all the hours of work he put in were really overtime, or if he just hung out at the precinct in an attempt to spend the least amount of time around her as possible. He had been noticeably cool since she mentioned her intent to attend Caleb’s party. Well, she would be out of his house into her own home soon enough.
    But it wasn’t only Nick who seemed to avoid her. Suzy had been keeping her distance as well. Every time Lynsey telephoned, the phone rang unanswered or Suzy was on her way out of the house at that very moment. She knew that Suzy was busy with Doug on the road a lot and her kids getting older and more demanding, but couldn’t she manage to squeeze in an hour with her best friend? It was so not how she envisioned her return to Unity. She had come back to be near her friends—friends who professed they would be her family, but now seemed to want to avoid her altogether.
    ***
    Lynsey noticed when she pulled her car up to the house at 44 Hollyhock Road that Caleb lived only a few streets from where her new home was being built. They would practically be neighbors. As she got out of her car, the second thing she noticed was the sound of Sepultura’s “Ratamahatta” wafting out the open windows of the house. Just how annoyed were Caleb’s neighbors? Of course, with a house full of cops there was little sense in calling 911 about the noise.
    She attempted to knock at the front door of the two-story, but the music was too loud. After two minutes, when it was obvious that no one had heard her, she tried the doorknob and found the door unlocked. When she opened it, a huge cloud of cigarette smoke spilled out onto the street.
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