Chapter 2

He left anyway.

Sarah walked out behind him and glanced back at me once.

There were no tears in that look.

Only the smugness of someone who had won.

I stood there in a shop full of gardenias, the thorns pressing blood out of my palm.

The clerk asked me carefully.

"Ma'am, do you still want these flowers?"

I nodded.

"Yes."

"Send them to James Group."

"Leave them at the front desk."

"On the card, write: a birthday surprise from Mr. James to his female assistant."

The clerk's mouth opened.

"This..."

I sent over the address.

"Write it exactly."

By the time I got home, one corner of the cake had already caved in.

My daughter Lola James had fallen asleep at the dining table, still clutching the card she'd drawn for Humphrey.

On it, in wobbly letters:

Mommy and Daddy love each other forever.

I looked at it for a long time, something jammed tight in my chest.

Janet Chavez the nanny came out of the kitchen.

"Ma'am, isn't Mr. James back yet?"

I shook my head.

"Did Lola eat?"

"A few bites. She said she wanted to wait for her daddy."

I bent down and lifted my daughter into my arms.

She opened her eyes, half asleep.

"Mommy, where's Daddy?"

I stroked her cheek.

"Daddy's busy."

She tucked the card against her chest.

"Then I'll give it to him tomorrow."

I made a small sound.

"Tomorrow."

At midnight, Humphrey came home.

He carried the scent of gardenias.

And the sweet trace of a strange woman.

He softened his steps as he came in.

As if afraid of waking me.

I sat on the couch and watched him change out of his shoes.

"Where did you drop her off?"

His hands stopped.

"You're still up?"

"I asked you a question."

He tugged at his tie, his face all exhaustion.

"Sarah was upset. I sat with her for a while."

I laughed.

"Sat with her, in her lap?"

Humphrey's head snapped up.

"Elisa!"

"Did I get it wrong?"

I tossed my phone onto the coffee table.

"See for yourself."

On the screen was the post Sarah had put up half an hour ago.

A photo taken inside the car.

She was leaning back in the passenger seat, holding the gardenias he'd bought again.

The caption:

Someone told me I deserve to be loved properly.

Under it, someone had commented.

New boyfriend?

She'd replied.

Not yet, but soon.

Humphrey's face turned ugly.

"She's just a kid. She posts things without thinking."

"Twenty-three and still a kid."

I nodded.

"Then what does that make you, at thirty-two?"

"An overgrown baby?"

He choked on that.

After a moment he sat down beside me, his voice going gentle.

"Elisa, today was my fault."

"I forgot your birthday, and I shouldn't have given her flowers."

"But believe me, there's really nothing between us."

I stared at him.

Six years ago his business failed, and he was buried in debt.

I sold the little apartment I'd bought before we married and gave him the money to get through it.

Later, when James Group moved into skincare, the scent formula for their first hit product was one I spent three months perfecting.

He knelt in front of me and said.

"Elisa, from now on, half of James Group is yours."

Then, later still, Lola was born.

She was severely allergic to pollen, so there could be no fresh flowers in the house.

I quit my job and stayed home to raise our child.

Humphrey started saying.

"Don't worry. I'll earn the money and take care of you."

Now he'd taken care of one Sarah Fox.

A spoiled one, too.

I held out my hand.

"Give me the phone."

He was instantly wary.

"What are you going to do?"

"Unfriend her."

He frowned.

"Elisa, don't take this to the company."

"She's a new hire in the new-media department. She runs a few accounts that are doing pretty well."

I looked at him.

"Are you unfriending her or not?"

He said nothing.

Silence was the answer.

I stood up.

"Then there's nothing to talk about."

He grabbed my arm.

"You're going to freeze me out over one employee?"

I shook him off.

"It's not about her."

"It's about you."

"Humphrey, I don't like filth."

His expression changed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I didn't answer.

My phone chimed once.

It was a photo from the company front desk.

Dozens of bundles of gardenias piled in the James Group lobby, the card photographed clear as day.

Humphrey saw it too.

He shot to his feet.

"Elisa, have you lost your mind?"

"Tomorrow the whole company will be laughing at me!"

I lifted my head to look at him.

"So you do know it's embarrassing?"

He couldn't hold back the anger.

"Get someone to clear them out right now."

"Too late."

I locked my phone.

"The flowers have already been delivered."

"Here's to Mr. James and his female assistant, and all their sweet-smelling flowers."

His chest heaved with rage.

"Elisa, you never used to be like this."

I gave a faint smile.

"You never used to pick up trash, either."

He raised his hand.

The slap never landed.

Because Lola was standing at the top of the stairs, hugging her little bear, her face white.

"Daddy."

Humphrey froze.

Lola asked softly.

"Are you going to hit Mommy?"