first step toward reclaiming her life, so she went home and looked up the weight loss programs online and found the one at the church she had passed. They called themselves Emerging Women and met several times a week. It was just a few blocks from her house. She decided she could go to a meeting in the morning to check them out.
Like any woman more than ten pounds overweight, Adele had tried many diets, but none that had worked. Or maybe all of them could’ve worked had she lasted more than four days. This time, however, she read about the diet online and found it actually looked fun. They even had products available for sale both at the meeting and in the grocery store for those busy men and women who didn’t have a lot of time for meal preparation. But everything she would need she could get at the local grocer.
Grocery store, not Jake’s market.
Her first meeting was successful. The friendly woman who weighed her in, pronounced her as having thirty-six pounds to lose for her ideal weight.
“I would have guessed a solid fifty,” Adele said.
“You’ll be so surprised at the difference you see and feel in just ten,” the woman said.
Adele listened to complaints and testimonials, heard advice and experiences, stayed late to get the instructions on how to calculate points for meals. She could even get an app for her phone so she could calculate the correct points for meals taken in a restaurant. Any place but Maggio’s.
She went home from her first meeting, cleaned out her refrigerator and made a list for the grocery. After that, she cleaned out her mother’s chest of drawers and half of her closet, stacking up the old clothes in either give away or throw away piles. Then she made a list of things she had to get done immediately. Topping the list was JOB.
She was filled with nervous energy, taking the first steps in starting over at last, unsure what the trigger had been. If she had learned Justine had a life-threatening disease, like cancer, she’d get it—don’t waste another moment of your life on trivial matters. Live as if it counts! Be your best self! But what she had learned was not that. Her wonderful brother-in-law, whom she loved more than she realized, loved like a brother, was a scoundrel. Not to be trusted. And her sister, who loved him and depended on him, was headed for certain heartbreak.
Adele did not dare waste a moment more.
* * *
Justine was just scrubbing up the last of the shattered flower vase when Scott came home, looking over the breakfast bar at her. She was on her knees, sweeping small bits of wet glass into a dustpan.
“What happened here?” Scott asked.
“Oh, an accident,” she said, her voice as pleasant as possible. “I dropped the vase and flowers. There were no survivors.”
“Aw, that’s too bad. There will be more, no worries,” he said. He gave her a smile.
No doubt, she thought. Probably lots of flowers before all was said and done. She judged his rumpled golf shirt and shorts, but she didn’t notice any sweat stains or grass stains, but then it was only March and there was a nice ocean breeze. Still, she’d like to ask to see a receipt for the round of golf. But instead she asked, “How’d you play?”
“Like crap. Eighty-six.”
The rest of their day involved minimal conversation, consisting of routine issues like what to have for dinner and the needs the girls had for the coming week. Then, as had become typical, Scott went to bed before nine while the girls and Justine were all up until eleven. Justine had work from the office to complete before an early Monday morning start, and the girls were finishing homework they’d put off to the last minute.
* * *
Monday came and that meant work for Justine, and even with all the uncertainties in the company, she was anxious to get there. Once she got to the office she texted one of the detectives they often used for legal assistance. It’s not like hers was a district attorney’s or prosecutor’s office—their investigations had to do with background checks on