as she rushed to cover an emergency shift at the gallery where she worked. Left entirely al

despite her wool coat. She sat at a small, wrought-iron table at an outdoor café, n

blended perfume announced her

f I joi

y into the chair opposite her. She removed her oversized sunglasses, revealin

ense. This was the woman who had haunted her marriage, the

y," Arlie said, her

. "I just wanted to apologize, Arlie. For taking up so much of Connor'

ension was

rted, her eyes like chips of flint. "And things that are

ly replaced by a look of curated sorrow. She deliberately pushed up the

rial whisper. "The night I saved him. He feels a... responsibility to me. A

drock of Connor's guilt. It was a story she had heard a hundred times, a de

black Maybach pul

r opened, and Co

delicate peach petals so rare and expensive they were almost myt

a deep, angry line as he saw them together. He stro

tears. She shot to her feet, transfo

tched him approach, watched the roses in his hand, and a tiny, trea

ixed on Arlie. He opened his mouth

den was

chest. "Connor!" she sobbed, her body trembling violent

the public display. **His eyes flicked briefly to the pale scar on Jayden's wrist as she clung to him. He didn't look at it with

the stems of the bouquet. She pulled back, l

delighted surprise on her face. "Are

He saw the utter stillness in her expression, the dead, gray

ound his throat, choking him. He opened his mouth, but no words came out

ce was hi

d screamed it. It was the sound of he

ressing herself against his side. "Plea

. He looked at Arlie one last time. "I'll call you l

around Jayden's shoulders, and gui

as he opened the car door for Jayd

its red taillights bleeding into the b

t feel it. She slowly lowered her head until

other, and another, until a silent,

waiter's concerned voic

peak. She fumbled in her purse for her wallet

ghost, a hollowed-out shell moving

the gray sky, melting on her coat, on he

She didn't search for Zoe'

en bars in Manhattan

as going to ge