Chloe's Secret by Shelley K. Wall

We all are. The time will pass before you know it and you’ll be the hottest attorney this side of the Mississippi. Unless we head to Saint Louis and then of course, that side too.” The Mississippi river collided with the Missouri in Saint Louis. He had laughed at his cleverness, which at the time wasn’t all that clever.
    Only she had lost and it took two and half years to do so. The case, her husband, her son and her life. God, she missed it. Them. The whole package.
    Hey, she had her career, right?
    Right.
    When she pulled into the diner, an eerie sadness settled over. It should have felt like coming home. Instead when the eyes of one of James and Dennis’ lifelong friends leveled on her with hate—she squirmed. And realized the depth of memory a small town had.
    You did the right thing.
    Had she? She had violated the very oath that propelled her into the District Attorney’s office. In Oklahoma. Would they have considered her at all if they knew what she’d done? Would James forgive her if he knew that she was solely responsible for Dennis’ conviction? And that she’d done it intentionally? They had been friends since childhood. But in her heart, she knew what they didn’t and she was legally bound to withhold it.
    To this town, the one she’d grown up in, she was a failure. No matter how many cases she’d tried since, the only one that mattered was the one she hadn’t won. The one that put an upstanding member of their tiny community in jail for life. God, if they only knew the truth.
    I’d told the secret and I felt horrible. While Mona lay in bed upstairs, I was divulging her lifelong secret to her grandson. I had to be open and honest. I should be shot.
    Yet, I felt I had to keep going. I couldn’t betray both of them and when she told me, I was a complete stranger. Not him. I had already been uglier than ever with him, and I couldn’t keep hiding it. If she had intended to take it to her grave, she shouldn’t have told me.
    So, I committed the cardinal sin of friendships. I told her most shameful of secrets. “She had an affair for years.”
    Colton’s eyes widened and he sat down in the nearest cafeteria chair and waited for me to finish. I was amazed at his calm demeanor. “You’re talking about Grams, right? The old woman sleeping upstairs?”
    And now I had to add the worst part. “With a woman.”
    His eyes flashed for a second, then he brought the coffee in his shaking hand to his lips and sipped. He absorbed my words. When he swallowed his chest started to shake, then it came. A full belly laugh. So loud he doubled over and a janitor peeked in at them from the darkened hall.
    He thought I’d lost it.
    “I’m serious.”
    He kept laughing. When I stomped my foot, he sucked in air and stifled as much as possible. “Where did you get that idea?”
    “She told me.”
    Okay, that got his attention. He wiped the smirk from his face.
    “The first day I rode in her carriage, she told me. I don’t know why she did, maybe she needed to get it off her chest or something. Or maybe she just thought since I was a complete stranger it didn’t matter. I don’t know. She just told me.”
    He looked dubious. “When exactly did she say all this happened?”
    “I guess it started when she was a kid, a teenager, and well—they’re still . . .”
    “Let me get this straight. You think my grandmother had a girlfriend the entire time she was married to my grandfather, who passed away? And you’re telling me she still does—has?”
    “Yes.”
    He downed the rest of his coffee and stood, now wide awake. “Tess, I don’t know what you’re smoking these days, but that’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. I can’t believe you’d say it. My grandmother thinks you’re the best thing she’s seen in a while and you want to smear her? You’re crazy.”
    The Styrofoam cup crackled as he crushed it with his fist, then tossed it in a nearby trashcan. He turned and strode to the elevator. “I