Chapter 2

I stare at him and slowly sit up.

“Why?”

Ryan frowns.

“The promotion means more work and more travel. Can you really handle all that?”

“You have me. You have Jason. Why not just keep things the way they are?”

“Sophie is single. She can put all her time into her career.”

I can’t believe he’s actually saying this.

My voice shakes.

“I worked on that project for a year and a half.”

“I brought in the client. I built the proposal. I spent months fixing and revising every part of it.”

“And now you’re just giving it to her?”

Ryan presses his lips together.

“The promotion list is already public. It can’t be changed.”

My whole body is shaking with anger.

Everything I’ve been holding in all day finally blows up.

I grab the glass from the nightstand and smash it onto the floor.

“Ryan, what the hell are you talking about?”

Glass shards fly everywhere. Water spreads across the carpet.

Ryan freezes for a second, then crouches down and starts picking up the broken pieces.

“You’re on your period. I’m not arguing with you.”

He throws the glass shards into the trash.

His voice is still completely calm.

“I’ll make you some warm milk. I’ll sleep in the guest room tonight. Just calm down.”

He’s trying to calm me down, but it only makes me angrier.

I can’t even get the words out.

After he closes the door, I sit on the edge of the bed.

There are still a few pieces of glass near my feet.

I pick up my phone.

Then I open the contact of someone I haven’t spoken to in years and send one message.

“I’ve made up my mind. Take me away.”

The next morning, Ryan puts a warm drink on the table in front of me, like he always does.

He pulls out my chair.

“Did you sleep okay?”

Jason bites into his toast.

“Mom, I want to go to the aquarium this weekend.”

I look at him.

“Who are you going with?”

He answers right away.

“Sophie. She promised to take me to see the beluga whales.”

Ryan speaks up before I can say anything.

“He knows you’ve been working hard,” he says.

“He probably just thought you’d want the weekend to yourself instead of running around with him.”

I lower my eyes.

My fingers curl around the warm cup Ryan put in front of me, and I take a small sip.

It tastes sweet.

And somehow, bitter too.

At nine, Megan pulls up outside the office right on time.

She’s my cousin.

And she’s a divorce attorney.

“The evidence is enough,” she tells me.

“Once a child is old enough, the court can take his wishes into account.”

I think about that phone call from fifteen years in the future.

I have to fight for custody of Jason.

I can’t just stand by and let my own son become the boy I saw on that call.

When I get back to the office, there’s already a crowd gathered around the promotion announcement.

Everyone is congratulating Sophie.

“Sophie, drinks are on you now!”

“Ryan really knows how to spot talent.”

“You’re lucky your boss was willing to give you a shot.”

Sophie stands in the middle of everyone, smiling.

“Don’t say that. It was the whole team. Claire worked hard on the project too.”

Ryan comes out of the conference room and sees me.

He walks right over and explains himself in front of everyone.

“I know Claire is capable. But she has a lot going on at home, and her son is still young. The job involves a lot of travel. Sophie was just a better fit.”

Someone standing nearby immediately says,

“That makes sense. Once a woman has a family, you have to put your family first.”

I stare at Ryan.

And suddenly, I remember what happened three years ago.

Sophie had just joined the company.

She was awful at the job.

She was so nervous that she was scared to even answer client calls.

I was the one who gave her some of my old accounts.

I sent her my proposal templates.

Even the outfit she wore to her first client meeting was picked out by me.

I’ve had a hand in getting her this far.

And now she’s climbed right over me to get to the top.

That afternoon, we have a meeting.

Ryan tells Sophie to sit in my old seat.

She goes through the project materials I prepared, page by page.

When the meeting ends, Ryan even praises her.

“That was a clear approach.”

But the PowerPoint she just presented is the exact one I stayed up until two in the morning finishing two days ago.

That evening, Sophie has a client meeting.

Ryan drives her there himself.

I go home alone.

I stand by the side of the road for a while.

Then my stomach suddenly twists.

I grab a trash can and start throwing up.

By the time I stop, there’s nothing left but a little stomach acid.

I end up going to the hospital.

Half an hour later, the doctor puts my test results in front of me.

“You’re a little over six weeks.”

She slides the ultrasound over to me.

“Don’t overwork yourself right now. And try to stay away from stress.”

I stare at the blurry little shape on the screen.

For a long time, I don’t say anything.

Two years ago, on the night Jason started elementary school, I casually asked Ryan,

“Maybe in a couple of years, we could have a daughter.”

He wrapped his arms around me from behind and laughed.

“Sure. Hopefully she’ll look just like you.”

The memory fades, and I look down at my stomach.

My hand rests gently over the small bump.

I’m sorry, baby.

You came at the wrong time.

But I’ll love you with everything I have.

Back home, I set the pregnancy report down on the table.

Ryan notices it and picks it up.

The smile disappears from his face.

Jason comes over and looks at the report too.

His eyes widen.

He looks from the paper to me, his face suddenly tense.

“You can’t have another baby.”