Chapter 1

On the Harvest Festival, I was in the store picking out holiday pies when Marcus Abbott said, out of nowhere:

"You know, you really do act like a mama's girl."

My hand went still on the boxed pie set.

He pressed a couple of cheap loose ones into my grip instead.

Back home, my mother called several times in a row.

She wanted to confirm my travel plans.

While Marcus was in the shower, I slipped out to the balcony to take the call.

I'd barely been on for a few seconds.

He came charging out with a towel around his waist and snatched the phone away.

"Can you not be so controlling with Leila Pruitt all the time? She's so spoiled she can't even manage the housework, and it's because parents like you coddled her rotten!"

I looked down at my phone wallpaper.

It was his proposal vows. The first line read:

"Leila's going to have an easy life married to me. She won't have to lift a finger around the house."

I didn't say anything. I picked up the underwear and socks he'd flung on the floor.

The doorbell rang.

Norma Fletcher again, my best friend, come over to cook.

Like me, she was from the South, chasing a career up here in the big city, and she had a good hand in the kitchen, cooking exactly the way I liked.

Lately, though, she'd made nothing but vegetable soup and scrambled eggs with greens for a week straight.

At the table, Marcus put the biggest piece of egg on her plate.

"See, this is what I mean. You fit right in wherever you go. Not like Leila, always fussing over her spicy dishes, never once thinking about her own husband."

Norma laughed and wiped a grain of rice from the corner of his mouth.

"Watch your mouth. My Leila is a little princess, a mama's girl! She gets to eat what she's used to, right, Leila?"

A message from my mother came in at the same time.

"Did I do something to upset Marcus? Don't fight over it. I can spend the Harvest Festival on my own, it's fine."

I typed back: "Mom, I'll be home next week."

The kind of home-coming that comes with a divorce certificate.

...

While the two of them chatted and laughed, the plate of eggs and greens was picked clean of everything but the greens.

I quietly set down my chopsticks and went to make myself a bowl of instant ramen.

Norma caught my arm.

"Your Highness, what is it now? Don't tell me my cooking isn't as good as your mother's?"

Marcus jumped in before I could answer.

"How could it be? Her mother only knows how to fry chili with chili. Just the smell kills your appetite."

He ladled out a bowl of vegetable soup.

When he handed it to me, his eyes were still drifting toward Norma.

"Your face has been getting greasier lately, breaking out too. Take a lesson from Norma. Eat light and your skin stays nice and clear."

Something snagged in my chest.

My skin only started breaking out after I moved up here. It didn't agree with me.

Before we married, Marcus had promised over and over that he'd take me home every week, that I'd get my health back.

And now, not only was going home out of the question, even a breakout was proof of how spoiled I was.

Norma slapped the back of Marcus's hand.

"Don't talk about our little princess Leila like that. She's not one to mess with, she'll get mad!"

Marcus didn't pull away. A faint smile touched his lips.

"And whose fault is that? You're the best friend who spoiled her. She's got a full-blown case of mama's-girl syndrome."

A sharp pain twisted through my stomach.

I didn't even have the appetite for instant ramen anymore.

"I'm full."

Norma bumped Marcus's shoulder.

"The little princess is upset. Aren't you going to go after her?"

Marcus's tone was flat.

"She married her way over here. Where else does she have to go besides home? Let her throw her fit. She'll come back on her own."

The air outside was a lot fresher.

I went back to the store, thinking I'd pick out two boxes of pies over again.

I opened my phone. Marcus and Norma had both posted at the same time.

The photo was an extra-spicy hot pot dinner, the two of them making a heart together.

The caption: "One spark and the Southern spitfire goes off again! Good thing the Southern kitchen girl's authentic spicy stew is here to cure it."

Marcus's comment:

"So good and spicy. This is exactly my thing!"

I stared at my own profile background.

It was the second line of Marcus's wedding vows.

"Leila can't live without her spice. There'll be at least two spicy dishes on our table every day!"

I used to worry the spice was too much for him, so whenever I ordered in, I'd always add something bland for him too.

Turned out it was never that he couldn't handle it. He just didn't want to eat with me.

After I bought the pies and walked out of the store,

I went ahead and booked a plane ticket home South for a week from now.