Hidden in the Blood: A Novel of the Terribly Acronymed Detective Club (Book 5)

Chapter Thirty-Four: Joe, Friday

"I'm worried I might have driven Joanie away," Joe said in answer to Penny's inquiry about how they were doing.

Penny Watson, their marriage counsellor, removed her glasses and raised her eyebrows. "What happened?"

"Last Sunday, I accidentally revealed that Lauren and I had a threesome with Rachel a few weeks ago."

"Ah, yes, the event you once termed 'progress'," she said, making air quotes with her fingers.

"I still assert that it was progress," Lauren said, which made Joe feel a little better. "We're living together again, and happier than we've ever been."

"Really." It wasn't a question, but a statement of doubt. "Are Rachel and Al still living with you?"

"Rachel is," Joe said. "Al's still in hospital. He woke up from his coma, but he's still recovering."

"He will leave the hospital, though," Penny said. "What will happen when he comes home?"

"They have a new place, a townhouse," Lauren said, and Joe had a sudden memory of what he and Rachel did there on Wednesday. His back was still sore two days later, but the pain wasn't debilitating anymore. "They were supposed to move in there as soon as Al was better, only..."

"Only?" Penny asked.

"Only, the townhouse has a new tenant."

Penny's brow furrowed. "Are you saying Al and Rachel are renting out their new townhouse?"

"Well, not exactly renting," Lauren clarified. "There's an ex-girlfriend of Al's who's in the middle of a divorce, who needs a place to stay while she's sorting out her life. It's a little complicated, but Rachel offered their place for her to stay a while, presumably until Al is ready to come home, but it might last longer than that."

"So, Al could conceivably be in your house again, Joe," Penny said. "How do you feel about that?"

Joe shrugged. "I'm not ecstatic about it, but it's not a deal breaker for me anymore."

"You're saying your feelings about Al have softened a little?"

He cleared his throat. "He's had my wife, and I've had his. It's not like I can claim moral superiority anymore."

Lauren's hand found his and squeezed.

Penny put her glasses back on and jotted something down in her notebook. "Well," she said. "This is enlightening. What about you, Lauren?"

"What about me?" Lauren asked, confused.

"Rachel is living at your house, and she's had sex with your husband."

"At my invitation and with my consent and participation."

Joe felt a hint of guilt that she didn't know about Wednesday, that she still thought his back injury was from the move in spite of the fact that all of the objects they'd moved in had been relatively light for him.

"Still," Penny said, as if reading his mind. "When she's living with you, there's always the possibility of it happening again, if the two of them get it into their heads that they'd liked the previous encounter; maybe they wouldn't ask you next time."

To Joe's surprise, Lauren shrugged. "I've betrayed her trust in the past. I'd have to suck it up if she did the same to me."

"You say that, but that's not the first reaction anybody has to betrayal. You have to let yourself be angry, then communicate to her that it made you angry, then try to work out a way through it to reconciliation. She has to do the same with you, too; I really wish I could have Rachel and Al in front of me the way you two are."