Chapter 1

Every day after work, Paddy Simmons came home with a chilled dessert from that place on the east side of the city.

All because I'd mentioned once that I liked it.

He'd gone and bought a membership, three years' worth.

Today he was working late, and since I happened to be passing by, I figured I'd just pick it up myself.

I gave the membership name and phone number, and the clerk smiled as she confirmed it. "You're Miss Fox, right?"

I frowned. "Isn't there some mistake?"

Neither my boyfriend nor I had the last name Fox.

But the clerk said it with total confidence. "No mistake, Miss Fox. Your husband is one of our best customers."

"Last time we ran a membership promotion, he signed up for three whole years in one go, just to get that turquoise bracelet you had your eye on."

The more I heard, the more my stomach dropped.

I'm a materialistic person. My jewelry is either gold or silver, nothing else.

There was exactly one person I knew who liked turquoise. My best friend.

And she just happened to have the last name Fox.

1

"Miss Fox, your chilled dessert is ready. Please come again."

I carried the dessert out and walked back in a daze.

I tried to reassure myself. Maybe it was just a coincidence.

It was true that I liked the dessert.

And maybe that turquoise bracelet was just a giveaway he'd happened to receive.

Maybe Paddy knew I didn't care for it and had simply passed it along to Brooklyn Fox.

Thinking that way, I felt a little better.

It was still a while before dark, so I carried the dessert along, meaning to wander around the area a bit.

But I'd barely walked any distance when I looked up and suddenly saw Paddy.

He was gently peeling a shrimp for the girl across from him. "Here."

I rubbed my eyes, terrified I'd seen wrong.

But that familiar figure by the restaurant window, I'd know it even if it were reduced to ashes.

Even the white shirt and the dark navy tie he was wearing,

I'd picked out with my own hands before he left this morning.

Five minutes ago, he'd texted me saying he had to work overtime at the office for two more hours.

Told me to find something to eat while I was out, not to wait for him to come home and cook.

When I turned to look at the girl across from him, I froze even harder.

My best friend, Brooklyn.

I didn't think twice. I pushed the door open and walked right in.

Paddy looked a little startled when he saw me. He stood up. "Caroline?"

"What are you doing here?"

I stared into his eyes. "Didn't you say you were working late? Why are you here eating dinner."

Right in front of Brooklyn.

Paddy ruffled my hair without the slightest hesitation, a helpless look in his eyes.

"My little princess, I knew you'd ask that."

He pulled up his phone and showed me the work group chat.

"Half an hour ago, my boss sprang an off-site assignment on me, entertaining a partner company."

"Brooklyn is my client. Having dinner with her today is business, too."

As if worried I still wouldn't believe it, Brooklyn even pulled a contract out of her bag.

"Caroline, no need to overthink now, right?"

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have handed this collaboration to your husband so easily."

I stared at that contract, and above it Brooklyn's smile was flawless.

I knew exactly how good she was at her job.

Back when she was dating and ran into a cheating guy, she got caught by the man's actual girlfriend, who took her for the other woman.

To get out of it, she printed a contract in under five minutes and passed the whole thing off as a business collaboration, sailing right through.

The situation right now made it hard not to picture that scene.

"Caroline, don't just stand there."

Brooklyn pushed the contract into my hands. "Why don't you take a look first? We really are discussing a collaboration."

As she said it, she winked at me, looking utterly innocent.

I didn't look. I pushed the contract back.

The dessert had half melted in my grip, beads of water forming on the outside of the bag, dripping onto my fingers cold.

"You two talk. I'll head back first."

As I turned, Paddy called out to me. "I'll walk you out."

"No need. Don't let me hold up your business."

I walked out of that restaurant.

Paddy watched me close the door, and he really didn't chase after me. He sat back down.

Something was off.

The more I thought about it, the more off it felt.

Paddy had always been a man of careful boundaries, never mind my best friend Brooklyn.

Even meeting an ordinary woman, he'd report it to me.

If he really was having dinner with Brooklyn for work, then given the way he was, a man who photographed a stray dog on the street just to share it with me,

how could he not have mentioned a single word about it?

I didn't go home. I turned around and doubled back.

Back to that chilled dessert shop on the east side of the city.

"Hello..."

Still the same smiling clerk from before.

"Miss Fox, why are you back again? Was there something else you needed?"

I asked her, "Just now you said my husband signed up for a three-year membership here in one go... how did you know Paddy was my husband?"

When we were only boyfriend and girlfriend, not married yet.

The clerk paused, then smiled.

"Of course. Because claiming that turquoise bracelet requires seeing a marriage certificate."

"If you don't believe me, look. We still have the photo from last time here in the shop."

The clerk eagerly flipped through the album and found the photo from when Paddy claimed the turquoise bracelet.

When she saw the girl in it, she looked me over again, her face going awkward.

"Miss, you're... not the Miss Fox in the photo?"

The people in the photo were Paddy and Brooklyn, beaming radiantly at the camera.

I stared, hard, at the marriage certificate they were holding up in their hands.

"My name is Caroline Pruitt."

"Not Fox."