Chapter 1

“Marrying a man with a kid is one step up from dating an ex-con, you know that right?”

My best friend, Jenna, was practically screaming, shaking my arm so hard the ice rattled in my drink. I just kept smiling, chewing on my straw like an idiot.

“It’s fine,” I’d said, full of a hope that felt foolish now. “A kid will make the house feel more alive.”

Back then, I truly believed marriage was an island for two. As long as Leo loved me, nothing else mattered.

That belief shattered the night his daughter got sick and his drunk ex-wife showed up, her hand cracking across my cheek twice before I could even register the intrusion.

“Leo, is this what you promised me?” she shrieked. “Is this how you ‘wouldn’t let Maddie suffer’? It’s only been a few years and you’ve already found her a wicked stepmother!”

The sting on my face brought me back to reality. A hot flash of anger surged through me and I raised my hand to retaliate, but Leo caught my wrist.

“Don’t,” he said, his voice low and firm. “Not in front of Maddie. She’ll never forgive you for hitting her mom. Let me handle this.”

He moved with a familiar, practiced ease, grabbing Sasha’s coat from the floor, fetching a bottle of water from the fridge, and steering her toward the door.

In that moment, I realized Jenna’s warning might not have been an exaggeration after all.

Thank God it wasn’t too late.

I scrolled through my contacts and pressed a number with no name attached. “Are you still coming home for Thanksgiving? And if so… are you free to go on a date?”

1

“Look, Claire, I’ve been carrying a torch for you for fifteen years, but I’m not looking to make headlines for adultery just yet.”

The voice on the other end was teasing, laced with that old self-deprecating humor, but underneath it, I could hear a flicker of genuine hope.

“It’s almost over,” I said.

“Then it’s a date. I’ll pick you up when I fly in for Thanksgiving. We can go straight to my parents’ place.” He locked it in, hanging up before I could second-guess myself.

A moment later, the front door opened and Leo walked in. He gave me an apologetic smile, his eyes landing on the phone I’d just set down. He was trying too hard to be casual. “Talking trash about me with Jenna again?”

I didn’t answer. My gaze fell to his left shoulder. The fabric of his shirt was dark with moisture. It wasn’t raining outside.

That damp spot, I imagined, was probably salty.

Dinner was already cold.

I wordlessly took our plates to the microwave, watching them spin twelve times under the dull orange light. My silence must have finally registered.

He edged closer, holding out a small box from a local bakery. “I picked this up on the way home. Salted caramel cupcake. Your favorite.”

The rich, sweet smell filled my nose, and I felt a wave of something like nausea. “No, thanks. I’m not hungry.”

It was just a coincidence, of course. A coincidence that I loved all the same little things his ex-wife, Sasha, did. That’s what I’d always told myself. Our personalities were completely different; how could he ever confuse us?

But I was only just realizing it now. All of Leo’s thoughtful little habits, the gestures I’d found so endearing, were just muscle memory. They were all shaped in the shadow of her.

How could I not see it?

Leo sighed, his voice heavy with exhaustion. “Claire, please don’t shut me out. Sasha is a mess. I couldn’t just leave her there, I had to make sure she got home safe.”

He tried a different tactic. “Hey, after Thanksgiving… let’s finally go down to the courthouse and make it official.”

The day we were supposed to sign our marriage license, Sasha had gotten into a serious car accident. Maddie had sobbed, begging her father to go to the hospital, to just see her mom one time. Leo had stood there, frozen, torn.

I saw the conflict in his eyes. It was a life-or-death situation. I never wanted to be the woman who made him choose. So I smiled, waved him off, and told him to go.

He was consumed with guilt afterward. He threw me a lavish, beautiful wedding, but between his demanding job and Sasha’s constant, simmering dramas, filing the actual paperwork kept getting pushed.

That was three years ago.

I shook my head, deciding to just be honest. “We don’t need to. That weekend, I’m going on a…”

“Daddy! I’m starving! When are we gonna eat?”

Maddie’s voice from the living room cut me off. Leo immediately turned his attention, rushing over with the plates. “Coming, sweetie! My fault, I wasn’t paying attention.”

He always did that. Took the blame on himself.

He pulled out my chair, nudged me into my seat, and put a piece of chicken on my plate. “You were saying? You’re going where?”

I pushed my rice around with my fork. “Nowhere. Jenna and I are just going for a walk by the river. She’s been having a tough time.”

2

Leo’s hand paused mid-air. He opened his mouth, then closed it. “A walk sounds nice,” he said finally.

Maddie eagerly spooned a mouthful of soup, chewed twice, and then spit it back into her bowl with a dramatic gag. She shoved the bowl away, her face screwed up in disgust.

“Yuck! This is so bland! You know I’m sick, and you made it tasteless on purpose! You’re just mean! I hate you, Claire! Daddy, I want the seafood chowder Mommy makes.”

“Maddie, what did I tell you about talking like that?” Leo’s voice was low but stern. “Apologize to Claire. Now.”

Maddie just pouted and turned her head away, her little jaw set in defiance.

Three years. For three years, I had tried everything. I’d studied cookbooks to master her favorite recipes. I’d driven across town in the pouring rain to bring her an umbrella she’d forgotten. I’d stayed up all night with a cool cloth on her forehead when she had a fever.

And still, she held me at arm’s length.

I looked at her, my voice softer than I expected. “That’s fine. When you’re feeling better, you can learn to make your own seafood chowder.” I added, “I can send you a link to a kid’s cooking tutorial. It’s pretty easy to follow.”

Maddie stared at me, stunned. This wasn't part of our usual script. Normally, the mention of one of Sasha’s signature dishes would send me into a culinary frenzy the next day. I used to think it didn’t matter that I wasn’t a natural cook. With enough practice, I could win them over, overwrite the taste of their past with a new one.

Sasha didn’t even have to be in the room to haunt me.

I was living in her shadow, constantly measuring myself against a ghost, wondering what I had to do to finally be better than her.

But the truth was, the moment I started competing, I had already lost.

“Are you exhausted lately?” Leo asked, his face etched with worry. He laid his hand over mine. “We can afford a housekeeper, you know. Someone to cook for us.”

When I didn’t respond, he started to say something else, but his phone buzzed sharply on the table.

I glanced at the caller ID. Sasha.

Leo’s jaw tightened with a mix of annoyance and embarrassment. He’d already ignored her first few calls. On the seventh buzz, he snatched it up. “Sasha, what is it now? I thought I made myself clear!”

It was rare to see him lose his composure, but his ex-wife had a unique talent for unraveling him.

The woman’s voice on the other end was a faint, muffled sob.

Leo’s expression soured. He looked from the phone to Maddie’s pleading eyes and his resolve crumbled. He hung up and looked at me, the familiar exhaustion mixed with a reluctant sense of duty.

“Claire… Sasha got kicked out of her hotel. She’s broke. It’s late, and she’s still a woman, you know?”

Alone. Unsafe. Vulnerable. I could read the subtext.

But a part of me wanted to scream—Sasha is also a grown adult. Why does she constantly need you to rescue her?

I just looked at him, my voice quiet. “It’s late. Isn’t it a little inappropriate for you to go running over there?”

The guilt in his eyes faded, replaced by a flicker of irritation. “What are you trying to say? We were… I mean…”

We were married once. She’s the mother of my child.

I wanted to finish the sentence for him, but suddenly I was too tired. Too tired to even fight.

“You know this will make me unhappy,” I said simply.

“Don’t be like that, Claire.” The apology in his tone was gone, replaced by frustration. “Am I supposed to just leave her passed out on a street corner to get rolled by some stranger? Be reasonable.”

He put down his fork. “Just trust me on this. Eat your dinner, get some sleep. I’ll do the dishes when I get back.”

He grabbed a wad of cash from the entryway console and was gone, the door clicking shut behind him.

It was just me and Maddie at the table.

She seemed to sense the shift in the atmosphere. For once, she didn’t offer a parting shot, just mumbled, “I’m going to bed,” and disappeared into her room, the lock turning with a decisive click.

I sat there, staring at the table of barely touched food. I wasn’t hungry anymore, either.

My eyes drifted to the corner of the living room, to the suitcase gathering dust.

Get some sleep, he’d said.

It was time.

3

Jenna took the next morning off to help me pack the last of my things and ship them back to my hometown.

She swore under her breath the entire time, her anger barely masking her concern. “I told you he was a train wreck. You’re smart, you’re beautiful… why did you have to fall for him? Claire, what were you even thinking?”

I looked down at my shoes.

What was I thinking?

I suppose I was just desperate for a warmth I’d never had, and Leo had shown up at the exact right moment.

When my parents divorced, they didn’t fight for custody; they fought to get rid of it. Neither of them wanted me. The court gave me to my mother, who quickly found a new husband, a new family, and a new happiness that I was never a part of.

I spent so long alone that I built walls around myself, shutting out the world.

At my first job, my withdrawn nature made me an easy target. During a boozy dinner with a client, my colleagues kept pushing me to drink, to entertain him.

Then Leo stepped in. He took the glass from my hand and set it firmly on the table.

“Sorry, Mr. Henderson,” he said smoothly. “She’s new to my department. Still learning the ropes.”

I just stared at him, stunned, and then fled the room. It was the first time I realized I was someone worth protecting.

Falling for him felt as natural as breathing. He was open about his past, his failed marriage, so when he confessed his feelings for me, his eyes were full of uncertainty.

But I didn’t care.

In my mind, a divorce meant a clean break. An ex was an ex. What did it matter? The love Maddie was missing from her mother? I could provide that. I had no experience, but I could learn.

I forgot that while love can be a two-person island, marriage is a continent, with borders and histories and prior allegiances.

“Hey, space cadet. You in there?” Jenna snapped her fingers in front of my face.

I forced a smile. “Yeah. I guess I just needed you to yell some sense into me. Thanks. I’ll buy you dinner sometime soon.”

When I got back to the house, Maddie was still asleep. I washed the dishes from the night before and made breakfast.

Leo finally came home. He looked terrible, his eyes bloodshot, like he’d been up all night.

He scrubbed his face with his hands and managed a weak smile. “Hey. Thanks for this. Sasha’s mom had a heart attack and passed away last night. She… she took it hard. She wanted me to tell you she’s sorry about everything.”

“Okay,” I said, mentally running through a checklist of my packed documents.

“And one more thing…” Leo pinched the bridge of his nose, hesitating. “Sasha’s in debt. With the market the way it is, she has nowhere to go. I… I set her up with a temporary assistant position at my company.”

He rushed to add, “She’ll be staying in corporate housing. You won’t even see her. It won’t be a problem.”

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. “And that’s not crossing a line?” I asked, my voice flat. “Leo, you don’t need to report your decisions to me. I’m a nobody here.”

His face darkened, but he smothered his frustration with a placating sigh, as if I were the one being difficult. “Don’t be like that. Everyone falls on hard times. She wouldn’t have asked me if she had any other choice. Just try to be a little more understanding.”

“Look,” he said, pulling a tube of hand lotion from his pocket and pressing it into my palm. “Your hands have gotten so rough lately. You never take care of yourself.” His tone was so patient, so reasonable, that it made me feel like the crazy one.

I squeezed the tube, its sharp corners digging into my skin. I took a deep breath. “Leo, we need to talk…”

But my words trailed off as I looked into his eyes. He was so, so tired.

He blinked, shaking his head slightly. “Hm? Sorry, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”

“Nothing,” I said softly, a final wisp of hope extinguishing inside me. “Go get some sleep.”

I pulled the bedroom curtains closed for him.

I didn’t storm out. I didn’t make a scene. I just went out to the balcony and stood in the cold air for a while.

I realized then that a true departure is silent.

4

Leo didn’t get to sleep for long.

The balcony door wasn’t soundproof. Even from the far end, I could hear the faint, hysterical edge of Sasha’s voice on the phone. After a few muffled replies, I heard the bedroom door fly open.

He was dressed and pulling on his shoes when he saw me standing outside. Our eyes met through the glass, and for a long moment, the world went silent. I knew, and he knew, that the barrier between us was so much thicker than a pane of glass.

A strange sort of panic flickered across his face, a dawning awareness that something was fundamentally wrong. Still, he didn't stop.

“Sasha’s threatening to jump off the office roof,” he said, his voice strained. “She’s saying she doesn’t want my charity… I have to go to the office. Don’t wait for me for lunch.”

He was wearing the first matching t-shirt we’d ever bought together. The irony was a physical ache in my chest.

“Do you have to go?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

The office was full of people. The police station and the hospital were both a block away. There was no real danger.

Leo’s gaze dropped to the floor. When he spoke, his tone was quiet but absolute. “Don’t take this personally, Claire. No matter how crazy she acts… Maddie can’t lose her mother. She deserves to have that love in her life.”

I gripped the railing, watching him leave. The keychain I’d given him, a little silver house, swayed gently on the doorknob where he’d hung his keys.

The day he gave me a key to this place, he’d leaned against the doorframe, smiling. “Welcome home, my lady. This little sanctuary is all yours to shape now.”

He said it would be our safe harbor.

It wasn’t anymore.

…

On Thanksgiving Day, Leo went all out. He canceled our restaurant reservation and cooked himself, covering the table with an elaborate feast. He carefully placed all my favorite dishes directly in front of me, which earned a pout from Maddie. “Daddy, you always play favorites.”

Once, a gesture like that would have filled me with a quiet, glowing happiness.

Now, as I picked up my fork, my only thought was that I needed to save room for my date.

One last meal together.

I smiled, trying my best to act normal. I was about to say something when a sharp knock echoed through the apartment.

Before anyone could move, Sasha swept in, her heels clicking on the hardwood. She surveyed the room like a conquering general and sniffed. “Well, look at that. Looks like I made it just in time for dinner.”

Leo’s brow furrowed, a vein throbbing at his temple. He instinctively moved to stand partially in front of me. “What are you doing here?”

Sasha’s eyes immediately filled with tears, her breath hitching. She slammed the pumpkin pie she was carrying onto the floor. “You promised Maddie! You promised her that every year, the three of us would be together for the holiday. I came to keep our promise, and you forgot…”

She turned to her daughter. “Maddie! Come on, let’s go. Your daddy is a liar, and we don’t play with liars.”

Maddie glanced at me, then back at her mother. She didn’t move from her chair, but her hand shot out and gripped Sasha’s skirt, holding on tight.

Seeing his daughter’s distress, Leo’s resolve crumbled. “You’re already here,” he sighed, waving a hand in resignation. “It’s just one more plate.”

Maddie’s face lit up. She dragged a chair over next to Sasha and began chattering away. Leo listened, a faint smile playing on his lips. I watched as he automatically reached over and picked the unwanted olives out of Sasha’s salad, a gesture born of long habit.

A perfect family, happy and whole.

No one asked for my opinion. It was exactly like being a child again.

Then Sasha started slicing a different pie she’d brought, a salted caramel one. “Oh!” she exclaimed with a little gasp of feigned surprise. “I completely forgot, Claire loves this flavor too. Here, you should have this piece.”

Her smiling eyes held a sharp, pointed meaning.

I understood the subtext perfectly. An extra slice of pie. An extra person at the table. Superfluous. Unnecessary.

I got it.

I stood up, my own smile feeling brittle. “We’re out of soda. I’ll run down to the store and grab some more.”

Leo stood up too. “I’ll come with you,” he said automatically, but Maddie tugged on his arm, whining, “Daddy, you haven’t watched the parade with me in forever!”

And just like that, his offer of companionship morphed into a simple, “Be safe, then.”

I didn’t say a word. I walked downstairs, called a car, and went straight to the coffee shop we’d agreed on. Ethan, who had been waiting, glanced at his watch. “Not bad. I was betting you’d be late.”

Halfway through our conversation, my phone screen lit up on the table. I’d put it on silent, but the notification showed twenty-three missed calls.

Ethan raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing on his lips. He gestured with his chin. “Go on, answer it. It’s not like I’m some dirty little secret.”

I called back. Leo picked up on the first ring, his voice tight with panic.

“Claire, where are you? How long does it take to buy soda? Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”

“Yes,” I said calmly. “I imagine you have been.”

“Oh, you’re just messing with me again,” he said, relief flooding his voice, making him sound cheerful. He switched to a conspiratorial whisper. “You won’t believe it. A minute after you left, some guy from my office called and swore he saw you meeting another man. I chewed him out. Told him I was docking his pay next month for having such bad eyesight, haha.”

I stirred my coffee, watching the black liquid swirl.

“He wasn’t wrong,” I said softly. “I’m on a date.”