Free Life After Perfect by Nancy Naigle Page A

myself.”
    “But don’t. Promise me,” Peggy said.
    Katherine wasn’t about to make that promise. She’d just be a liar if she did.
    She scanned the room. How do you pack just a few things? Memories, treasures, pieces of her whole life were in this house. “How do I even figure out what I need?” She walked past so many things that held importance it was hard not to want to scoop up every little memory and take it with her. But then she’d need a moving van, maybe two, and there’d be time to come back for that stuff. Right now, she just needed space. “I guess this is like ‘what do you grab in a fire drill?’ Only the critical stuff.”
    Katherine stood at the base of the stairs and clutched the handrail. Had he ever had that woman here, in their bed? While she was traveling? Opportunity. She’d certainly given him plenty of that, if not reason. She lifted a heavy leg to the first step on the stairway and then trudged upstairs.
    Peggy followed and helped Katherine fill her wheeled travel bag with casual wear and underclothes; then she took to the bathroom and grabbed the makeup and personal items Katherine might need.
    “Just a minute,” Katherine said as she eased past Peggy into the bathroom. She looked around: her favorite perfumes and the embroidered hand towel her grandmother had made for her as a wedding gift were on the counter. She touched the worn fabric. It was hard to leave anything behind. Her attention settled on Ron’s toothbrush.
    Peggy stepped behind her.
    “He has the best smile,” Katherine said, tears welling at the conflicting emotions coursing through her. “Damn him.”
    Peggy snatched the toothbrush from the holder. “Do you have any white vinegar?”
    “Yeah. In the kitchen. Why?”
    “Come on.” Peggy raced down the stairs and Katherine followed her. “Get me that white vinegar.” Peggy grabbed a coffee cup from the sink drainer and stood at the ready. Toothbrush in one hand, coffee mug in the other.
    Katherine slammed through two cabinets and then walked over to Peggy with the vinegar. “What are we doing?”
    Peggy tossed the toothbrush tip down into the mug and then glugged out enough vinegar to cover the whole head of the toothbrush. As she swished the tight blue and white bristles through the vinegar, the smell wafted in the air. “It’s harmless. I promise, but toothpaste reacts to this vinegar and it will put a taste in his mouth that he is not going to forget for a long haul.”
    Katherine smiled. “Really?”
    “Oh, honey. The worst. We used to do this all the time at summer camp. It’s a little evil but so worth the price of a cheap bottle of vinegar.”
    “And a perfect comeuppance for that tooth-obsessed husband of mine. Did I tell you that the woman had teeth so white it looked like they were painted?”
    “Don’t think about her.” Peggy swished the toothbrush again. “Too bad we don’t have her toothbrush!” She lifted the toothbrush out and carried it like the Olympic torch up the stairs with Katherine at her heels. She set it back in the holder and they both stepped back with a satisfied grin.
    “Sometimes you just have to have a little win,” Peggy said.
    Katherine reached under the counter and took his teeth whitening kit. “May as well make that two.” She shoved the whitening kit into her bag. “I can’t do this. Whatever I’ve got, I’ve got. I’ll be back,” Katherine said, because if she didn’t leave now, she’d never be able to.
    “No. Not by a long shot. You need to grab all of your personal documents. The last bank statements, titles, all the important papers. Better to have them with you than to trust he’ll produce them.”
    “We have them in a safe downstairs.”
    “Leave the safe. Take the papers. He probably won’t even realize they’re gone for a while and that will play in your favor.”
    “How do you know all of this stuff?”
    “Shaleigh has been taking me through these paces for weeks. I paid for this