Chapter 1

1: 1

Ten minutes before they wheeled Grandma into the crematory furnace, Adam James, the boyfriend I'd loved for five years, sent me a transfer over text.

The amount: two thousand dollars.

There was a long voice message with it:

"My mom's blood pressure spiked and she collapsed. I'm at the ER and I can't get away.

"Use this to buy Grandma a nicer urn."

I stared at the transfer box on the screen, my palm going numb.

Grandma was the only person in this world who ever loved me.

Last week, from her hospital bed, she'd held Adam's hand.

His eyes had gone red as he swore to her.

"I'll be good to her for the rest of my life. I'll never let her suffer even a little."

But now Grandma was about to become ash.

And he wouldn't even show up to see her off, all for one flimsy excuse.

The memorial needed a high-resolution photo of Grandma for her ID portrait, and the original file was on Adam's tablet.

I took a deep breath and unlocked the tablet he'd left in the car last night.

The screen refreshed.

The system auto-synced a photo his phone had taken one minute ago.

The photo wasn't of an ER at all.

It was an ultrasound scan from the OB-GYN department of a private hospital.

On the scan, the patient's name was his childhood friend, the one he publicly called his "buddy," Rosamond Fox.

Below it ran a line of diagnostic text:

"Two gestational sacs, approx. eight weeks."

In the last half-second, Adam's ecstatic voice had recorded too:

"Rosamond, it's twins! I'm going to be a dad!"

So he wasn't at the ER being a devoted son at all.

He was using the time set aside for my grandmother's funeral to be with another woman, welcoming a new life.

I screenshotted the scan, turned off my phone, and dropped it into my bag.

Then I turned, lifted Grandma's portrait, and walked straight toward the crematory room.

This time I wasn't only sending Grandma off.

I was sending off five years of us too.

...

By the time I got back to the apartment holding Grandma's urn, I didn't even have the strength left to cry.

All I wanted was to collect the things Grandma had left in the second bedroom.

And then vanish from Adam's world.

I pushed the door open. The overhead light in the living room was off.

Adam was sitting on the edge of the couch, rubbing Rosamond's calf.

His voice was soft.

"The doctor said the first three months are the most dangerous.

"You shouldn't have come out here alone today. What if you wore yourself out?"

Rosamond leaned against his shoulder.

"I wanted to share the baby's first kicks with you right away."

I stood in the shadow of the entryway, watching this pair of star-crossed lovers.

Then I flicked on the ceiling light.

A flash of panic crossed Adam's face.

"You're back? Why didn't you knock?"

He shot to his feet and stepped in front of Rosamond.

"Didn't I tell you my mom's in the hospital, in critical care?

"Rosamond came by out of kindness to help me find something."

Rosamond hid behind him, her eyes falling on the box in my arms.

She clutched her stomach and shrank back.

"Adam! My stomach hurts so bad! That box! It reeks of death."

Adam's face changed, and he rushed over to hold her.

"Monica Henson, are you insane?"

He pointed at the door and snarled.

"Get that cursed thing out of here, now!

"Rosamond's weak right now, she can't take a scare like this.

"Are you not satisfied until you curse her into losing the baby?"

I held the box, my fingertips white from gripping it.

"This is my home."

My voice came out hoarse.

"And this is my grandmother."

"Don't you dare use Grandma to pressure me!"

Adam cut me off.

"I sent you two thousand dollars. Isn't that enough?

"My mom's fighting for her life in the ER and I can't get away!

"Can you not be this selfish, picking a jealous fight at a time like this?"

He said it so righteously, as if I were the guilty one.

Seeing me stand there unmoving, Rosamond sobbed.

"Adam, let it go. I know Monnie's always minded our relationship.

"I should just leave. Don't let me come between the two of you.

"Baby, Mommy's taking you home!"

That word, baby, hit a nerve in Adam.

The last shred of patience in his eyes when he looked at me was gone.

"Get out!"

He grabbed a fistful of my collar and shoved me toward the door.

I had the urn in my arms.

In the struggle, a plastic bag hanging from my wrist dropped to the floor.

The bag fell open, and a pair of little wool booties rolled out.

Grandma had made those in her final days.

Holding on to her last breath, she'd knitted them stitch by stitch.

All because Adam had once stood at her bedside, eyes red, and lied to her.

"Grandma, Monica and I are trying for a baby next month. You have to hold on to hold your great-grandchild."

Grandma believed him.

When she'd pressed the booties into my hands, she'd smiled and said,

"Save these for our Adam's child."

But now those booties had rolled to Rosamond's feet.

Rosamond shrieked in fright and stomped down hard on them.

"What is this thing! Does it have some dead person's germs on it?"

Seeing that, Adam.

Kicked the booties out into the stairwell.

"Monica, you really are vicious."

He looked at me through gritted teeth.

"You brought this thing here on purpose to disgust Rosamond, didn't you?"

The door slammed hard in my face.

I was locked outside, Grandma's ashes cradled against me.

In the dark, I slowly crouched down and picked up the wool booties.

The tears fell before I could stop them.

Adam, to protect another woman's twins.

You ground the booties Grandma knitted for your future child into the dirt with your own foot.

I wiped my tears, took out my phone, and opened the social media feed of Adam's mother.

Just ten minutes ago, this mother supposedly fighting for her life in the ER.

Had posted a fresh selfie of herself sipping coconut water on a beach in Miami.

The caption read:

"My daughter-in-law is so good to me. Not only is she carrying twins.

"She even booked me a tour package to get me out here to relax."

Since all of you love putting on a show this much.

Then I'll build you a stage, and I'll bring every last one of you down in disgrace.