That day, the day Lynn called upon Shelly to help her, I knew that something was desperately wrong. I’d come home to find Lynn sitting at the kitchen table. She had an open envelope from the mail in front of her, and her hand tightly clutched the letter that had been inside.

“Lynn?” I asked as I stepped slowly into the kitchen. She stared into space, seeing nothing, I was sure. She didn’t even look up. I called her name again. “Lynn?” I said softly.

Slowly, she raised her gaze until her eyes met mine. Tears pooled in them, but I watched as she steeled herself. She un-crinkled the letter, folded it neatly, and put it back in the envelope.

“Everything okay?” I asked, as I set my gym bag on the floor. I was sweaty and dirty, as I’d just come from playing basketball at the rec center.

She got up and walked toward me, stepping onto her tiptoes so she could kiss me. “I’m glad you’re home,” she said quietly.

“Tough day?”

“A little,” she said, her voice not much more than a whisper.

“You look like…” I stopped. I didn’t know the right words.

“I look like what?” she asked.

“What were you reading?”

She heaved a sigh. “A letter.”

Well, that much was obvious. “From whom?”

She used to get letters from her father, but she always returned them to sender. They went straight back to the prison.

“He got out a week ago,” she whispered. “For a whole week, he’s been out there and I had no idea.”

I rushed to the letter and held it up so I could read the return address. “Your father?” I asked. I didn’t open it. It wasn’t my letter. But I desperately wanted to. I wanted to rip into it so I could find out what kind of havoc he would wreak on our lives and how soon I could expect it.

“Yes. My father.”

My heart began to skip. “Have you heard from him?”

She looked everywhere but at me. “I think so.”

“What does that mean?” I brushed a lock of hair behind her ear so I could clearly see her face. “Talk to me. Please,” I whispered.

“Three days ago, I heard a noise. I was working in the office. I didn’t think much of it. It sounded like a door closing.”

I pointed toward the floor. “Here? In this house?”

“Yes.” She started to load the dishwasher.

“And you think it might have been him?”

“Yes.”

“What makes you think that?”

“My necklace is missing. You know, the one you gave me the day we got married? That one.”

On the day we’d gotten married, I’d given her a blue topaz set with diamonds around it. I wasn’t fancy, but it reminded me so much of her eyes that I had to buy it. I gave it to her after we stood on the beach and said our vows.

“Did you check behind the dresser? You might have just dropped it.”

“I checked. I checked everywhere.”

I stared at her, but she was so damn hard to read. “The last time it went missing, Shelly stole it.”

“I remember. She doesn’t have it.”

“You talked to her?” That fact had my heart skipping even harder than the idea of her father coming home.

“Yes. She doesn’t have it.”

“And you believe he does?”

She winced. “Maybe.” She sucked in a breath. “Yes. Yes, I believe he has it.” She pointed toward the letter. “That came a few days ago, but I didn’t open it. I thought it was nothing important.”

Honestly, I was more worried about Shelly being back in Lynn’s life than I was about her father coming back. Her father’s motives were simple. Shelly’s were just evil and unpredictable.

“We can deal with this,” I said. Her father wouldn’t get to her, not if I could help it.

“I need to go and see Shelly,” Lynn said on a heavy breath.

My heart fucking stopped. “No,” I said slowly, shaking my head. “We can get through this together. We don’t need Shelly.”

She pointed a finger at her chest and hit herself between the boobs, hard. “I need her. I need her now.” She stood up taller. “I’m sorry, but I need to go and see her.”

“I’ll go with you.”

She shook her head, sadness settling over her features. “I need to do this by myself.”

“But—”

“He was here, Mason! In our house! Going through our things!” Lynn never shouted. She was always calm and collected. So her tone showed me just how much this had unsettled her. “What if he hurt you?” she whispered. She shook her head, like she was shaking it clear. “I need to go and see Shelly. She’s the only other person who knows him. She can help.”

It had been a few years since she’d talked to Shelly, since the Aubrey incident. And now she’d opened that door again. Shelly would waltz right back in and then we wouldn’t be able to get rid of her. I didn’t know what to do with that.

She put on her shoes and grabbed her purse and her keys.

“Lynn,” I protested.

She walked to me, stepped onto her tiptoes again, and kissed my cheek, lingering long enough that I could smell the peppermint coffee she liked so much on her breath. Her nose tickled my chin and I wanted to grab her and never let her go, but holding on to Lynn was like holding smoke in your fist. It was impossible.

“I’ll be back later,” she said.

“Be careful of Shelly,” I said to her as she walked out the door.

She turned back at the last moment. “She’s part of me. I’m not scared of her.”

But fuck if I wasn’t.