Chapter 24
They were going to wear white. Bill, Chat, Cooper, Max, and herself. It would be a statement. It would be a vision. Danika
needed to feel beautiful, to show off her family in flawless designer white. To appear as if everything was perfect. At least
for tonight.
She hoped to fool herself.
Danika hadn’t said anything to Bill about their finances, or the affair. She couldn’t bring herself to face it yet. Still,
he seemed to feel some shift in her.
“Are you okay?” he asked early that afternoon. Danika had been standing in her closet, picking out her jewelry for the evening
and drinking from the bottle of wine she’d hidden behind her dresses—her emergency wine, she’d told herself. Though every
day now felt like an emergency. As Bill entered, she pushed the bottle farther to the back.
“Are you okay?” She studied his workout clothes, his nonchalance. He’d been behaving as normal—not as if he was sending their whole
lives into turmoil.
He nodded, perplexed.
Danika turned away. It was hard to look at him and not imagine him sleeping with someone else.
“Danika.” He stepped closer. She was wearing her bathrobe, and he ran his hands over the white silk of her shoulders.
“Thank you for whatever you said to Josh. He’s been much more amiable lately.
He didn’t fight us on the last big vote, and he said you two had a good conversation about the model home. I appreciate it.”
Danika tensed beneath Bill’s hands.
“He seems to have turned a leaf, as they say.” Bill chuckled. “We’re all really excited about the model home, too. Everyone’s
so impressed. I knew what I was doing, hiring you.”
Danika looked at him. She knew now that Joshua Mike had been the one to ask for her to be involved. That lie held a certain
ache.
She walked toward the bathroom.
As Danika stood at the sink and stared into the mirror, she suddenly thought of her mother—suddenly saw her face in her own.
Once again, she thought back to what she’d said that day Danika implied she should leave her father: “And then what? Just
how do you suppose I start over? Just how do you supposed I get a new life?”
Danika felt sick with understanding.
She wanted to get to the end of summer unscathed, to finish the model home and soak in time with Chat before everything came
tumbling down. Chat had been more attentive than ever, too—constantly asking how he could help, if she needed anything—and
while things were different between them, it was still nice to be pampered. Even if his behavior was fueled by guilt, finally,
she had him to herself.
Part of her wished she could open up to Chat and tell him everything about Bill, but they were no longer confidants. Like
Trey, he had let her down.
But, now, the luau. This was one evening she could still control. One night where she could still feel like herself. Or at
least the version of herself she had worked so hard to conceive. Because who knew who she’d be next. Her power was slipping
away like the last light of day.