From "Seeing Julia" by Katherine Owen

Julia is meeting with Dr. Bradley Stevenson, revealing what she witnessed at her husband Evan's tragic accident...

“The thing was, I knew, even then, I was saying goodbye to happiness. I felt it seeping away from me. Gone forever. Just this feeling of suspended disbelief. Suspended disbelief. You know; the feeling you get, after you’ve cut yourself, a silly accident where the carving knife goes astray. You’re cutting tomatoes and then, you’ve cut yourself. It’s stupid, really. And, you stare down at your finger and before the pain starts, you watch the hint of blood ooze from sliced skin. Then, in the next instant, it’s everywhere. The horror…spurting blood that can’t be stopped… the horror takes hold. And then, the pain comes.” I pause, take another deep breath, and glance over at the good doctor. He just regards me with those grey eyes of his, too much like Evan’s, takes notes, and watches me.

“I said to the officer. “It won’t be stopped. Will it? The happiness is really gone forever. This pain is never going to go away. Is it?”

“You should sit down,” he’d said back to me and asked me my name.”

From "The Trouble with Green" by Liv James

After Josie leaves town to put out a fire at one of her inns, her husband has a tense encounter with an unwanted guest...

This changed things.

He swirled the brown liquid in his glass and shot it back. Frank was there immediately to refill it.

“Thanks man,” Jeff said, meaning more than the bourbon.

“You okay?” Frank asked. “I haven’t seen you that pissed in years.”

“Not sure.”

“Who was that guy? He had the stink of the city on him.”

“That he does. That guy,” Jeff took another drink and grimaced. “That guy could have been Josie’s brother-in-law, if you can believe it.”

“No.”

“We’ve been together eight years. Have you seen her? I wasn’t her first boyfriend.”

“I never imagined her with anyone else,” Frank said, swiping a white cloth across the bar and pocketing the five.

“I don’t like to.”

“Don’t worry. She’s your wife now. She’s as faithful as they come.”

“Yeah, I know. But I just found out she almost married someone else. Guess I’m surprised she never mentioned it.”

Frank shrugged. “Must not have been that important.”

Jeff threw back the rest of his drink. “I need to check on Emma.”

“Don’t let it get to you,” Frank said. “She’s with you now. One hundred percent with you.”

 “Yeah. And I plan to keep it that way.”