Chapter 2

For the past six months, we’d fought over that name, Serena, more times than I could count.

I’d cried. I’d screamed. I’d even demanded, like a madwoman, “Why can’t the two of you keep the kind of distance exes are supposed to keep?”

But even when things got that bad, I’d never once thought about giving up on our marriage.

Not until three months ago, when Declan went to Silicon Valley on a weeklong business trip.

His birthday fell right in the middle of it.

I took time off work and secretly flew out to surprise him.

But when I tracked down his hotel, the suite was empty. It didn’t look like anyone had been staying there at all.

I called his assistant, who told me, “Mr. Vance flew back to New York two days ago.”

I just stood there, stunned.

He’d gone back two days early. And he hadn’t come home.

After I hung up, I stayed rooted to the spot and called him again and again. He never picked up.

The custom cake in my hands had completely melted.

I shifted my weight off my aching feet, dropped the cake into a trash can, pulled out my phone, and booked the earliest red-eye home.

When the plane landed, I couldn’t stop myself. I pulled up Serena’s Instagram.

Her latest story had gone up at midnight.

Five years later, celebrating my favorite person’s birthday again.

Spent all afternoon baking. It came out a little messy, and I burned my wrist, but someone said he loved it.

Maybe love is when he worries about the burn on my hand, and I think it was all worth it because he liked the cake.

She’d posted a lot of photos.

Declan was in them. So were the trust-fund friends he’d run around with since they were kids.

They’d always been close.

Not like me.

I’d never managed to fit into Declan’s crowd.

But with Serena, they never ran out of things to talk about.

Reading the comments, I finally learned that Declan had flown back early because of Serena too.

Hunter: Only you could get Declan to walk out on a multimillion-dollar merger and fly overnight from the West Coast.

Serena: Is this your first day knowing him? With me, it’s always green lights.

Hunter: It’s been forever since we had a night like last night...

I scrolled through every last comment until my eyes ached from the glare of the screen. Then I put the phone down and let out a long, heavy breath.

In that moment, I suddenly didn’t want to go home.

I checked into a hotel near the airport.

At three in the morning, my mind kept replaying every fight we’d had since Serena moved back from overseas.

He’d finally taken some time off, and we’d gone to see a show on Broadway.

The curtain had barely gone up when Serena called him.

I recognized her voice. When he stood to leave, I reached out and caught his hand.

Declan hesitated for only a second. Then he pried my fingers loose, said, “Something came up at work,” and hurried out.

Another time, he’d promised to pick me up after work. I waited outside my office in the cold wind for a long time.

What I got instead was a gossip clip of him carrying Serena, who’d twisted her ankle, into a hospital.

That night at home, if I hadn’t brought it up, he wouldn’t have remembered he’d promised to pick me up at all.

When I confronted him, he rubbed the bridge of his nose, sounding impatient. “Something happened to her near my office. I saw it. I wasn’t going to just walk past. Nora, she’s my ex, not my enemy.”

He always did that when he was losing patience.

I pressed my lips together and didn’t push for a long time.

But it kept happening.

Every time we fought, he had an excuse:

“I’d help a stranger.”

“Hunter put the night together. Am I supposed to check whether Serena’s coming every single time?”

“We just ran into each other. Can you be objective for once?”

“Nora, don’t you think you’re a little too hard on Serena?”

Fight after fight, in his eyes, it was always the same: I wasn’t being fair to Serena. I was the one making a scene over nothing.