From as far back as she could remember, people had called her crazy. Crazy Lily Brooks. Then she’d married that rat bastard Ronny Darlington and they’d called her Crazy Lily Darlington.

The sound of her boot heels as she walked to her Jeep Cherokee echoed off of the Dumpster. With her thumb on the keypad, she unlocked the doors and the back hatch popped up. She set her heavy tote next to boxes filled with skin and hair care products, then reached over her head and closed the door.

Okay, so maybe she’d been just a little crazy during her marriage, but her ex-husband had made her crazy. He’d skirted around with half the female population of Lovett, Texas. He’d lie and tell her she was imagining things. He’d been so good at sneaking around that she’d almost convinced herself that she was imagining things. Then he’d dumped her for Kelly the Skank. She didn’t even remember Kelly’s last name, but he’d moved out and left Lily behind without so much as a backward glance. He’d also left her with a pile of bills, a bare refrigerator, and a two-year-old boy.

He’d thought he could just move on. He’d thought he could get away with making a fool of her. He’d thought she’d just take it, and that, more than anything, had made her drive her car through his living room. She hadn’t been trying to kill him or anyone else. He hadn’t even been home at the time. She’d just wanted to let him know she wasn’t disposable. That he couldn’t just walk away without suffering like she was suffering. But he hadn’t suffered. Lily ended up in the hospital with a concussion and broken leg, and he didn’t give a shit about anything but his busted TV.

She shut herself inside her SUV and fired it up. The red Cherokee was the first new car she’d ever bought. Up until a year ago, she’d always bought used. But with the success of her salon and day spa, Lily was able to splurge on something that had always been a dream-one she’d never thought would actually come true. Twin headlights shone on the back of the spa as she reversed out of the parking lot and headed home-toward the small three-bedroom house right next to her mother’s, in Lovett, in the little town north of Amarillo where she was born and raised.