Chapter 1
The day Marcus Hayes and I got our marriage license, he'd come straight from his ex-girlfriend's wedding.
Standing outside the Clerk's Office, he held our marriage certificate in his hand and looked me straight in the eye.
"She's in my past now. I'll treat you right. I promise."
And he kept that promise. For five years, he respected me and spoiled me rotten. He remembered exactly which store sold my favorite fruit and waited to pick me up from work no matter how late his shift ended.
Little by little, I let go of the resentment I'd held toward that woman.
Until she got divorced and moved back to town with her daughter.
Marcus didn't go looking for her. Instead, he wrapped his arms around me, his whole body trembling as he murmured, "You're so good. I can't stand the thought of you being treated unfairly."
But the very next day, he dropped a divorce agreement onto the nightstand beside our bed.
"Elena Sullivan's daughter is only 6. She can't grow up without a father."
I went completely still.
"So you want to be her father?"
I still remembered how Marcus had begged me to wait before having kids of our own. He'd said he was afraid he wouldn't be a good father. Every time I'd brought it up since then, he'd come up with another excuse to put it off.
It wasn't that he didn't want to be a father. He just didn't want to be the father of my children.
I gently brushed my fingers over my barely rounded belly. Then I picked up the divorce papers and accepted them.
*****
"The house is yours, and you can keep the car, too."
Marcus sat on the edge of the bed, holding out a pen to me with one hand while pressing his fingertips against the last page of the divorce agreement with the other.
When I didn't respond after a few seconds, he clicked the pen shut.
"If you ever find yourself in a bind, don't try to handle everything on your own. Come to me, okay?"
I slipped the agreement into my bag.
"When are we going to the Clerk's Office to finalize the divorce?"
He blinked, clearly caught off guard by how calm I was. Then he held my gaze in silence.
"I just told you that I'm leaving you the house."
"I heard you. We'll stick to the agreement about the house. I just need to know when we're going to the Clerk's Office."
He let out a laugh and reached over to squeeze the back of my neck, the same way he used to massage away the tension whenever I came home late from work.
"Wow, you're in an even bigger hurry than I am. What, is there already someone waiting to take my place?"
I turned aside to avoid his hand.
His fingers lingered in the air for a moment before his smile faded. He headed into the kitchen.
10 minutes later, he returned with a mug of warm milk, my usual little spoon resting on the rim.
"Drink this first. You barely ate anything at dinner."
In the five years we'd been together, I'd lost count of how many times he'd warmed up milk for me. When I'd been struggling with stomach pain, he'd even set a reminder on his phone for me to drink water. Whenever it went off, he'd call out to me from across the living room.
I wrapped both hands around the mug. The warmth slowly seeped into my palms, but the ache in my chest only grew tighter.
"You don't have to do this for me anymore."
"Come on, we're getting divorced, not becoming enemies."
He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear.
"I never said I wouldn't look out for you anymore."
"What about Elena?"
He fell silent for a moment.
"She's been raising a child on her own for years. She's had a hard life. You had me by your side for five years. She has no one."
I almost asked him, 'Didn't I spend those five years with you, too?'
But I swallowed the words before they could escape.
I zipped up my suitcase and told him I'd already rented an apartment. I'd be moving out in a couple of days.
He frowned.
"I'm leaving the house to you. Why are you moving out?"
"I just want a change of scenery."
"Suit yourself."
He picked up his car keys, but just as he reached the door, he paused and glanced back at me.
"Oh, by the way, I want to bring Lily over sometime and let her look around. She really likes this place."
I stood beside my suitcase with my head bowed, my hands curling into fists before I even realized it.
"You said this house was for me."
This was the home we'd shared for five years.
His brow furrowed, his expression darkening into a scowl.
"It's just a visit. Are you seriously going to be this suspicious of a 6-year-old?"
"I'm not suspicious of her," I said, "I just didn't expect you to start making plans for someone else to enjoy this place before I've even moved out."
His expression turned cold.
"If that's how you're going to take it, there's nothing I can do."
With that, he stepped outside and pulled the door shut behind him.
I stood frozen in the entryway for a long moment before finally pouring the warm milk down the sink.
From now on, no one would remind me to drink my milk. And I would never have to stay up waiting for him to come home again.
