Chapter 1

At the company retreat dinner, we were playing truth or dare.

"Alma, you and Mr. Delgado used to be together, didn't you?"

"Everyone in the industry says Mr. Delgado's stayed single all these years, waiting for his first love to come back from abroad. Don't tell me that's you!"

Alma Pruitt smiled faintly, feigning reluctance. "That's all ancient history. Caspar doesn't like it brought up. If you're that curious, you could always ask Sheila Winfield. Back when we were dating, she was practically my little guardian angel."

Every probing, gossip-hungry eye in the room swung to me at once.

Nobody knew that Caspar Delgado and I had been secretly married for two years.

I looked up and smiled.

……

A few airy words from Alma, and my coworkers' eyes lit up. They kept pushing me to tell them all about the sweeping campus romance Caspar and she supposedly had.

Right then, Caspar pushed the door open and came back in.

"We've got an early meeting tomorrow. Let's call it a night."

A ripple of disappointed sighs went around. Only I let out a quiet breath of relief.

The moment we stepped out of the restaurant, a female coworker close to Alma spoke up. "Mr. Delgado, you're the only one who didn't drink tonight. Would you mind driving Alma home? She's pretty, and it isn't safe for her to go home alone after that much wine."

My steps stopped before I could think, and out of the corner of my eye I caught Caspar turning to look my way.

Before he could answer, Alma pressed a hand to her stomach, her delicate features drawing tight.

"Caspar, my old stomach trouble is acting up. Could I trouble you to take me home? The address hasn't changed."

Caspar gave a slight nod. "I'll go get the car. Wait here, the two of you."

The two of you.

Two small words, like little slivers of ice working their way into my chest.

I curved my lips in a bitter little smile, took out my phone, and, taking the hint, booked myself an Uber.

While I waited for the car, someone tapped me lightly on the shoulder.

"Sheila, why don't I give you a ride home?"

I turned and recognized Alex Harding from the marketing department.

Before I could politely decline, Alma laughed and teased, "Oh? Has Alex taken a liking to our Sheila?"

"Alex has good taste. Sheila's steady, real marriage material. Grab your chance!"

The cheering got louder. Someone nudged my shoulder, steering me toward Alex, and Alex was grinning ear to ear.

Caspar's headlights cut through the dark toward us. Behind the windshield, his brow was knit tight, and he sat there watching this side quietly.

Good, I thought, that settles it. "Thanks, but I'm fine."

Just then a message popped up on my phone: my Uber had arrived out front.

I turned and walked quickly to the car and got in.

As I shut the door, I saw Alex's face go stiff—

and Alma's careless voice drifting after me:

"Don't be discouraged. I know Sheila too well. She's soft, and she's starved for security. Go after her boldly. She won't have the heart to really turn you down."

I rode home.

In the storage room I found a pair of beige knit gloves, a clumsy letter stitched at each wrist.

I'd never seen them before. They appeared out of nowhere, and thinking back on Alma's vague answers and Caspar's dating history, a sour ache spread through me.

These must have been what Alma gave him back in college.

After all these years, Caspar still kept them.

The last small hope at the bottom of my heart was gone.

Even after two years of marriage, there was still a place in his heart for Alma, higher than mine, his wife.

Caspar and I had been in the same year at college. For four years I'd carried a quiet crush on him.

After graduation everyone went their separate ways, and I thought our paths would never cross again.

I never expected that after finishing my graduate degree, I'd end up hired at the very company where he worked, with him as my direct superior. The day I started, I saw him and I was over the moon.

A few years into the job, my family's pressure to marry grew relentless. On one blind date, the man insulted me to my face, and he put his hands on me too.

I was still arguing with him when Caspar happened to pass by and pulled me out of the tight spot.

He looked at my reddened eyes and said, out of nowhere,

"Sheila, my family's been pushing me to marry too. Would you… want to give it a try, with me? Sign the papers, get married?"

I always understood that this marriage began out of settling, with nothing to do with love.

But I had my own selfish hope too. I told myself that being near him gave me the first chance, marriage first and love after.

That heart of his would warm to me one day.

Now the first love he pined for was back, and I, the stand-in filling a temporary role, should make my exit.

Failure and regret twisted together until my composure gave out completely.

I threw the gloves to the floor, and the sobbing I'd held down so long echoed through the storage room.

The door was pushed open. Caspar stood in the doorway, and the moment he saw the gloves on the floor, his whole body went rigid.