Husband Material (London Calling, #2)

by Alexis Hall

“Just to establish some ground rules,” I said, “do we hate him and think he’s evil, or do we trust him and think it’s a misunderstanding?” Bridge laugh-cried. “I don’t know. Either? Both. How could he do this to me?” I thought both would be a bad call, so I picked a lane. And with uncharacteristic evenhandedness I picked the lane marked benefit of the doubt. “He might not have. Liz might have made a mistake.” “Liz is pretty smart. Plus, she’s a vicar.” “I don’t think that makes her infallible.” “No, but it means I feel bad calling her a liar.” Bridge snapped off a triangle of Toblerone. “This was a good call, thanks. I don’t know why we only buy them at Christmas.” I took a nibble of the Dairy Milk. There was an art to this kind of supportive binge—one I’d learned mostly from being on the other side of it. You needed to share enough that you weren’t just watching the other person eat but not take so much that you actually limited their access to comfort food. “I don’t think she’s lying, just that there’s lots of reasons Tom could be talking to a random woman in a café.” “Name five.” I nearly choked on my chocolate. “That’s not fair. Five is loads.” “Okay.” Bridge pulled the blanket a little tighter around herself. “Name three.” “Old school friend, sister he’s never mentioned—” “I’ve met his sister,” interrupted Bridge. “Also the woman in the photo was white.” “Adopted sister we’ve never heard of.” She gave me a disappointed look. “You’re only on the second one, and you’ve ...