Chapter 1

After Daniel Mercer cheated on me with his coworker Rachel Collins, we spent three solid years tearing each other apart.

I smashed up his car, shredded his shirts, did everything I could to keep him away from Rachel.

He hated me right back.

My fever spiked to a hundred and four, and he stood there cold-eyed while I crawled to the hospital on my own.

I smashed his phone, so he locked me out of the house all night.

Then came the day we fought at the top of the stairs. I lost my footing and went down, split my forehead open, blood all over my face.

Our five-year-old, Chloe Mercer, threw herself down beside me, sobbing, and screamed at him for the first time in her life:

"Get out!"

"I don't want you to be my dad anymore!"

Daniel froze where he stood.

After that day, it was like something finally snapped him awake.

He changed jobs. He told me he'd cut Rachel off completely. He came home on time, every night.

Chloe wanted the amusement park, so he took a day off and stayed until they turned the lights out.

Chloe wanted to learn to rollerblade, so he held her hands and practiced with her all afternoon.

I honestly thought this family was going to be whole again.

But little by little, Chloe stopped clinging to me.

The kid who used to need her arms around my neck to fall asleep started finding me annoying.

"Mom, why do you always ask so many questions?"

"Dad doesn't get on my case about everything."

Then even the weekend outings stopped including me.

Until her birthday, when I left work early to surprise her at pickup.

And saw Daniel's car parked across from the school.

Chloe climbed out of the back seat and ran straight into Rachel's arms, lit up with joy.

"Rachel!"

"I didn't tell Mom this time!"

Rachel laughed, bent down, and kissed her cheek.

Daniel stood beside them holding a cake box, watching them with a tenderness I hadn't seen in his face for a long time.

They were the ones who looked like a family of three.

I stood on the other side of the street and didn't go over to confront him.

I just turned around and went home.

Maybe it was time to stop fighting to keep this family.

And give myself a way out.

……

Back home, the first thing I did was turn off the burner.

Creamy pasta, Chloe's favorite, still steaming in the pot.

Pale purple balloons strung up in the dining room, just how she liked them. Her present sitting next to her chair.

The door opened.

Chloe ran in hugging a white stuffed rabbit, cheeks flushed with excitement.

Daniel came in behind her and glanced at the table I'd already set.

"Change of plans. I took her out to eat. Forgot to text you."

I didn't say a word. I just dumped the whole pot of pasta in the trash.

Chloe stared at me. When I didn't look at her, she hugged the rabbit tighter and ran to her room looking wounded.

Daniel followed me into the kitchen, already blaming me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

I shut off the faucet and turned to face him.

"You took Chloe to see Rachel, and you had her keep it from me. Daniel, what exactly am I to you?"

His face went dark.

"I never told her to hide anything."

"Then why did she say, the second she saw Rachel, that she didn't tell Mom this time?"

His mouth moved. Nothing came out.

I looked at him and suddenly felt like a fool.

"You told me you weren't in contact with her anymore."

"Her and me, that ended a long time ago. Today was a coincidence."

"What a coincidence — on Chloe's birthday. You just happened to buy the toy, just happened to cut the cake, just happened to teach my daughter to keep things from me?"

Daniel's jaw tightened.

"Claire, do you have to talk to me in that tone?"

That's when Chloe appeared in the kitchen doorway holding a cup of water.

"Are you guys gonna fight again?"

Daniel's voice went soft instantly.

"No, baby. We're just talking."

She didn't leave. She stood there watching us.

And I thought about the day I fell down those stairs.

Chloe sobbing into my side, screaming at Daniel:

"Get out!"

"I don't want you to be my dad anymore!"

That was the day Daniel became a different man.

Home on time. The amusement park. Teaching her to rollerblade.

I really believed we were going to be okay.

It took until tonight to understand: what he'd repaired was his relationship with his daughter.

And me — they were cutting me out, an inch at a time.

That night I went into Chloe's room for her laundry.

She was in the shower.

A sock had fallen by the bed. I crouched to grab it and noticed the edge of the carpet turned up along the bed frame, a photo peeking out.

I pulled it free, and my breath stopped.

In the photo, Daniel stood behind Chloe.

She was holding a small birthday cake, grinning so wide her eyes had scrunched shut.

Rachel was pressed right up against them, reaching over to straighten the party hat on Chloe's head.

The three of them so close. So natural about it.

Like they'd celebrated her birthday together many times before.

I turned the photo over.

On the back, in Chloe's crooked handwriting:

*The best day ever.*

The bathroom door opened.

Chloe saw the photo in my hand and her whole face changed.

She rushed me, grabbing for it.

"Why are you going through my stuff?"

Her voice was sharp and panicked, her eyes all defiance.

I lifted the photo a little higher. My throat closed up.

"Chloe, why couldn't you tell your mom you'd seen her?"

She bit her lip. Her eyes went red.

"Because you get mad! You're always mad!"

"She's better than you! Daddy likes her, he doesn't like you. I want Daddy to like me too!"

The tears spilled over.

"And you ruin everything, every single time! You're my mom — he's gonna stop liking me too!"

My mouth opened. Nothing came out.

Daniel heard and came in fast.

He looked at the photo in my hand, and his first instinct was to pull Chloe behind him.

Watching him do that, something clamped down on my chest so hard I could barely breathe.

"So this is what *it's over* looks like?"

He was quiet for a few seconds.

"Claire. It's her birthday. Do you have to ruin the whole night?"

I stared at him, and something in me went cold.

So he got to take our daughter to celebrate a birthday with Rachel.

Our daughter got to keep their secret.

And all I had to do was ask one question, and I was the one who ruined everything.