Friends with Issues


 
 
 Cover
 Title Page
 Copyright Page
 Dedication
 Contents
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Chapter Twenty-Five
 Chapter Twenty-Six
 Chapter Twenty-Seven
 Chapter Twenty-Eight
 Chapter Twenty-Nine
 Chapter Thirty
 Chapter Thirty-One
 Chapter Thirty-Two
 Chapter Thirty-Three
 Chapter Thirty-Four
 Chapter Thirty-Five
 Chapter Thirty-Six
 Chapter Thirty-Seven
 Chapter Thirty-Eight
 Chapter Thirty-Nine
 Chapter Forty
 Chapter Forty-One
 Chapter Forty-Two
 Chapter Forty-Three
 Chapter Forty-Four
 Chapter Forty-Five
 Chapter Forty-Six
 Chapter Forty-Seven
 Chapter Forty-Eight
 Chapter Forty-Nine
 Chapter Fifty
 Chapter Fifty-One
 Chapter Fifty-Two
 Chapter Fifty-Three
 Chapter Fifty-Four
 Chapter Fifty-Five
 Chapter Fifty-Six
 Chapter Fifty-Seven
 Chapter Fifty-Eight
 Chapter Fifty-Nine
 Chapter Sixty
 Epilogue
 Acknowledgements
 
 
 
 
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 CONTENTS
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Chapter Twenty-One
 Chapter Twenty-Two
 Chapter Twenty-Three
 Chapter Twenty-Four
 Chapter Twenty-Five
 Chapter Twenty-Six
 Chapter Twenty-Seven
 Chapter Twenty-Eight
 Chapter Twenty-Nine
 Chapter Thirty
 Chapter Thirty-One
 Chapter Thirty-Two
 Chapter Thirty-Three
 Chapter Thirty-Four
 Chapter Thirty-Five
 Chapter Thirty-Six
 Chapter Thirty-Seven
 Chapter Thirty-Eight
 Chapter Thirty-Nine
 Chapter Forty
 Chapter Forty-One
 Chapter Forty-Two
 Chapter Forty-Three
 Chapter Forty-Four
 Chapter Forty-Five
 Chapter Forty-Six
 Chapter Forty-Seven
 Chapter Forty-Eight
 Chapter Forty-Nine
 Chapter Fifty
 Chapter Fifty-One
 Chapter Fifty-Two
 Chapter Fifty-Three
 Chapter Fifty-Four
 Chapter Fifty-Five
 Chapter Fifty-Six
 Chapter Fifty-Seven
 Chapter Fifty-Eight
 Chapter Fifty-Nine
 Chapter Sixty
 Epilogue
 Acknowledgements
 
 Copyright © 2023 by Meredith Berlin
 All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or stored in whole or in part by any means without the written permission of the author except for brief quotations for the purpose of review.
 This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All places are fictional except where they clearly are not. The author has used them for her own fictional purposes.
 First Edition
 ISBN: 978-1-957723-72-3 (hard cover)
 978-1-957723-73-0 (soft cover)
 978-1-957723-97-6 (e-book)
 
 Published by Warren Publishing
 Charlotte, NC
 www.warrenpublishing.net
 Printed in the United States
 To Jordan
 Marriage is a gamble, let’s be honest.
 —Yoko Ono
 Follow your heart but take your brain with you.
 —Dr. Alfred Adler
 1997-1998
 CHAPTER ONE
 Nick Gallagher
 Greenwich, Connecticut
 Six months before the day he died, Nick woke up the way he usually did—jolted from a bad dream. He remembered bits of it—being with friends near his old Manhattan apartment, wandering into a gun club for shooting practice. He thought his shots were pretty good until the owner tore down the target paper and showed him how off the mark he was. The scene changed, and he was walking through the offices of a new magazine—a magazine with a lot of buzz, though it had yet to be published. He tried to offer advice to his old colleagues, but he was invisible to them. When he opened his eyes, he had that vague feeling of being useless.
 Nick lived in a ten-thousand-square-foot house. He had twenty of the most desirable acres in Back Country Greenwich with a large movie-star pool, clay tennis court, and full home theater. Floor-to-ceiling windows reflected the changes of every season. The exterior was concrete. He hated the house—he thought it looked like an office park.
 He glanced over at his sleeping wife and ran his fingers lightly over Susan’s upper arm, gently squeezing it, making sure not to wake her. Her skin jiggled where he touched it—soft and lush. But Susan didn’t want him to look at her arms. Or the rest of her body. When he occasionally passed by her as she was getting dressed, she was already in her underwear or robe. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen his wife nude.
 When he’d married her twenty-three years ago and they were living in Manhattan, she was a petite, lean, don’t-even-think-of-messing-with-me magazine executive in stiletto heels. They made love spontaneously and fiercely. In the dining room after dinner or locked behind his office door. Then it slowed down. Friends told him that was natural, but Nick didn’t believe it. Not so early