
THE DIVORCE COACH
*_She teaches people how to break up.
He paid her $50k to get back together.
Rule #1: Don’t fall for the client.__
Maya Rhodes is Austin’s most in-demand divorce coach.
Her job? Help people end relationships with dignity, zero drama, and no texting your ex at 2am.
She has 3 rules, 1 grumpy dog named Alimony, and a business that’s finally paying off her own messy divorce.
Caleb Hart is a tech billionaire who outsourced his entire life.
Including his marriage.
When his ex gets engaged, he panics and hires Maya for 60 days to “win her back.”
The price: $50,000.
The problem: Caleb doesn’t want his ex back. He wants Maya.
What starts as fake dates and taco truck disasters turns into real chemistry, real secrets, and one very illegal $10k flirty text.
But when Caleb’s biggest competitor offers Maya $250,000 to quit, she has to choose:
Take the money and run...
Or break every rule she’s ever made for the man who taught her how to feel again.
Now the board wants Caleb gone. The internet wants Maya cancelled.
And Victor Bennet wants them both destroyed.
With 29 days left on the contract and the whole world watching, Maya and Caleb have one final lesson to learn:
__Sometimes the person you’re supposed to help let go...
is the one you’re supposed to hold onto._*
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Chapter: CHAPTER TEN:THE EX VISIT"So it's true then."Lena Chen didn't yell it.That was the worst part. If she had yelled, it would have been easier.She just stood there on Caleb Hart's deck overlooking Lake Travis, in that wrinkled linen dress she always wears to throw pottery on East 6th, holding a handmade mug that had a little chip on the handle. I knew that mug. Caleb told me in Week 1 that she made it for him on their second anniversary. He drank everything from it.Now she was looking at me wearing his AUSTIN TECH WEEK shirt. The one that goes down to my knees.And Caleb, standing behind me with no shirt, his hand still half holding mine.For three full seconds nobody moved. Just the lake hitting the pylons under the house and cicadas being loud.Caleb finally said, "Lena. You shouldn't be here."Lena laughed, but not in a mean way. More like she was tired. "Yeah. Your tweet said the same thing to all of Austin. Two hundred and eighty-four thousand people know you're here. I thought I'd be number two hundred
Last Updated: 2026-10-13
Chapter: CHAPTER NINE:THE MORNING AFTERI woke up because my neck hurt.That was the first thing. Not because of the light — Caleb Hart's Lake Travis house has those automatic blinds that actually work — but because I had fallen asleep on his couch and his arm had gone completely dead under my head.7:13 AM. The house was quiet. The kind of quiet you only get when you're right on the lake. You can hear the water hit the deck.For three seconds I didn't remember.Then I remembered everything.Day 31.The tweet. #DivorceCoachGirlfriend trending on Austin Twitter.The drone that showed up outside my office on South Congress yesterday.Cold pizza on his kitchen floor.And the kiss.I had a yellow Post-it note on my fridge for two years. It says: RULE 1: NO FALLING FOR THE CLIENT.I broke it against his fridge.Caleb was still asleep. Messy brown hair, no shirt, jeans from yesterday. That small infinity tattoo on his collarbone that Lena made him get in Marfa on their anniversary trip — the trip he almost missed. He breathes thr
Last Updated: 2026-10-13
Chapter: THE INTERNET EXPLODESBy 2pm, #DivorceCoachGirlfriend was trending. *TechCrunch:* _Caleb Hart Defies Board, Debuts New Girlfriend at Emergency Meeting_ *Twitter:* _billionaire hires divorce coach to get ex back ends up dating coach instead we love a plot twist_ *LinkedIn:* _Thoughts on workplace boundaries and CEO transparency_ *Tasha’s group chat:* _BITCH YOU’RE FAMOUS AND I TOLD YOU TO TAKE THE MONEY_Maya’s phone was a nuclear reactor. 300 texts. 40 missed calls. Victor. Her mom. A reporter from Austin Chronicle. Alimony’s vet asking if she needed "emotional support for the dog too."Caleb’s phone wasn’t better. Board members. Investors. His mom. They were hiding in Caleb’s house with the blinds down, eating cold pizza and refreshing Twitter.“This is bad,” Maya said, scrolling. “Someone found my Yelp page.”“Someone gave you 5 stars and said ‘saved my marriage by helping me end it’,” Caleb read over her shoulder. “That’s amazing marketing.”“That’s not the point!” Maya threw her phone. “I’m sup
Last Updated: 2026-08-26
Chapter: THE BOARD MEETINGFriday. 9am. Bennet Global Tower, 40th floor.The boardroom was all glass and ego. 12 people in $4000 chairs. Victor Bennet at the head, smiling like he already won.And in the middle of it: Caleb. Jeans. Black tee. No tie. And Maya, in a blazer she borrowed from Tasha, sitting next to him.The whispers started the second they walked in. _"Is that his assistant?"_ _"No, that’s the divorce coach."_ _"She’s not on the agenda."_Victor stood. “Caleb. Didn’t expect you to bring... moral support.”“She’s not moral support,” Caleb said, pulling out a chair for Maya. “She’s my advisor.”Maya sat. Her hands were shaking under the table. $250k. Gone. For this.Victor’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s get started. Motion on the floor: removal of CEO Caleb Hart, effective immediately, due to erratic behavior and neglect of fiduciary duty.”Someone slid papers across the table. Proof. Missed meetings. The Barton Springs photos. The Venmo to Maya with “Worth it” in the note.Maya’s stoma
Last Updated: 2026-08-26
Chapter: 48 HOURSTasha poured tequila. Two shots. No chaser. “You’re an idiot,” she said. “Take the $250k.”Maya was sitting on Tasha’s bar, still in her work dress from 9am. “He’s gonna lose his company.”“And?” Tasha slid her the second shot. “That’s not your problem. Your problem is rent and your divorce lawyer and Alimony’s vet bills.”Maya drank it. Burned. “He trusts me.”“Babe,” Tasha said softly. “That’s the job. People trust divorce coaches for 60 days and then they go back to their lives. You’re not special.”The words stung because they were true.Maya’s phone buzzed again. Victor. _“24 hours left. Don’t make me call his board directly.”_She turned the phone face-down. “I need to think.”“Think with your bank account,” Tasha said. “Not your uterus.”---The next 24 hours were hell.Caleb texted her 3 times. All normal. *Caleb:* Board prep is hell. Miss Barton Springs. *Caleb:* Sending you a meme. Don’t laugh at work. *Caleb:* Rule 4. No secrets. Dinner tomorrow? My place. I’ll cook
Last Updated: 2026-08-26
Chapter: THE COMPETITOR CALLSMaya deleted the text. Then she undeleted it. Then she screenshot it and sent it to Tasha.*Maya:* Victor Bennet is calling me about Caleb *Tasha:* THE Victor Bennet?? CEO of that evil tech empire?? *Maya:* Yes. What do I do?? *Tasha:* You tell Caleb. Immediately. You’re his coach not his secret service. *Maya:* What if it ruins the 60 days?? *Tasha:* What if it ruins HIS COMPANY?? *Maya:* ...fair.But she didn’t tell him. Not at Barton Springs. Not when he was laughing and failing to do a cannonball and looked 12 years younger. She told herself it was “protecting the client’s mental space.” It was a lie. And Rule 2 was No Lying.That night Caleb texted her at 11:47pm. *Caleb:* Thank you for today. I haven’t laughed like that in 3 years. *Maya:* You’re welcome. Get some sleep, CEO. *Caleb:* Can’t. Board meeting tomorrow. *Maya:* You said no work after 8. $10k. *Caleb:* Charge me. She didn’t. The next morning, Maya called Victor Bennet back from her office.
Last Updated: 2026-08-26