Wife 22

Wife 22
Melanie Gideon

If you like Modern Family, you’ll love thisMaybe it was because I was about to turn the same age my mother was when I lost her. Maybe it was because my husband and I were running out of things to say to each other.But when the online study called “Marriage in the 21st Century” showed up in my inbox, I had no idea it would change my life. It wasn’t long before I was assigned both a pseudonym (Wife 22) and a caseworker (Researcher 101).And, just like that, I found myself answering questions.Before the study, I was Alice Buckle: wife and mother, drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions.But these days, I’m also Wife 22. And somehow, my correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn. Soon, I’ll have to make a decision—one that will affect my family, my marriage, my whole life. But at the moment, I’m too busy answering questions.As it turns out, confession can be a very powerful aphrodisiac.

MELANIE GIDEON

Wife 22

Copyright

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by

HarperCollinsPublishers 2012

Copyright © Melanie Gideon 2012

Melanie Gideon asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Ebook Edition © June 2012 ISBN: 9780007425495

Version: 2016-12-12

Dedication

For BHR—HUSBAND 1

Epigraph

“Only connect.”

—E. M. FORSTER

Contents

Cover (#ua573b4d0-8784-5115-8186-ef603dcc90ca)

Title Page (#u96bf5027-d21c-5fc7-87fb-806ab19a4904)

Copyright (#uc73fcb7e-df9f-5f03-99f8-9629bd530301)

Dedication (#uc6555228-c4ce-5642-9fed-42f0459fee75)

Epigraph (#u7bd22814-d8c5-5aa2-a700-88eaeeebf2a1)

Part 1 (#u0459c98e-c032-5115-8a1d-c29d7b1179f2)

Chapter 1 (#uc28e0763-cfe8-5c01-b23c-9608af95d8ec)

Chapter 2 (#u8a2ea8f6-d6bb-5787-9769-159956fe7041)

Chapter 3 (#u975eb4d4-28cb-5775-8ce5-e915d5ddbcde)

Chapter 4 (#ue46f8447-bb81-574d-9ca3-e437bfa17db5)

Chapter 5 (#u25a1928a-7f43-53b4-b395-ad4325f504af)

Chapter 6 (#u8b0f6299-896a-532c-8aa8-9c6641000e9f)

Chapter 7 (#u885f8f8c-4d90-5026-91f2-055ee9f500a1)

Chapter 8 (#u322fd904-a3db-58e4-a6dc-88724e47f106)

Chapter 9 (#ua2dc140c-9595-5c87-9469-d38199fd2807)

Chapter 10 (#u86eed560-1ee4-5f88-aa62-6d33ddd45044)

Chapter 11 (#u8fbea37f-842a-58be-aa6a-2571074eb2ef)

Chapter 12 (#ubdf76162-500a-5e88-b26b-43f3a9e0428d)

Chapter 13 (#ube213e93-e6b9-521b-a116-0ba4941b58d3)

Chapter 14 (#ufcc1b97f-7ad5-5249-94d8-a7c18657eed7)

Chapter 15 (#u9ee01ca1-431b-5185-be52-b0476d18f56c)

Chapter 16 (#ub3df3704-a926-5ebf-8c82-61412b645124)

Chapter 17 (#u99476afc-3141-5a99-ba52-3c6c681db958)

Chapter 18 (#u25c0e858-ddb9-5644-94c2-07dc17755d68)

Chapter 19 (#u32027f28-30fb-55ad-b889-565c59fe58f9)

Chapter 20 (#u89c4a13c-8933-55d9-be63-eeddc282e0bc)

Chapter 21 (#uc5695fb2-02c6-53fd-a3f0-7ac8a873fdbc)