ersary, and I was sitting alon

out sat unopened. The whole house was quiet, so

l day to share. I had imagined this moment a thousand times. I would tell Ethan, he would lift m

s late. V

ts swept across the living room window. Relief w

and then the passen

It was Chloe. His college sweetheart. The ghost wh

is head tilted in that familiar way. A w

art d

sting on my stomach, pulled away. I shove

im lead another woman to our fron

as o

d sat on the bathroom floor and cried happy tears, thinking about how this baby wou

fool

ad shown up at Ethan' s tech company, claiming her own marriag

a," Ethan had said. "She

s. Then he started canceling our plans to go "cheer her up." The st

was, breaking d

face a calm mask I had perfected over th

re. He had probably hoped I was already in bed. "Chloe wasn't

She was a social media influencer, and she knew he

e said, her voice soft. "I told Etha

I could see the flicke

nd the plastic stick. A secret promise to a child he would

d, my voice empty. "