LOGINADRIANThe call came on a Sunday afternoon.I was in the park with Ella, pushing her on the swings, watching her face light up with each arc through the air. She was wearing a pink dress with strawberries on it, the one her grandmother had sent for her birthday, the one Maria had rolled her eyes at but put on her anyway because some battles weren't worth fighting. She looked so much like her mother sometimes that it stopped my heart. Other times she looked like me, and that stopped my heart too, but for different reasons.My phone buzzed in my pocket. I ignored it at first, because Ella was laughing and the sun was warm and I didn't want to break the spell. But it buzzed again. And again."Sorry, sweetheart," I said, pulling the phone out. "Daddy just needs to check something."She didn't care. She was already demanding to go higher, higher, higher, the way she always did when she was in the swing.I glanced at the screen. Unknown number. New York area code, but not one I recognized.
SERENAThe wedding was a small one.That was the compromise we had reached after months of discussion, of back and forth, of trying to figure out what we wanted and what we could afford and what would make us happy without making us crazy. Aiden wanted something grand, a celebration worthy of the journey we had been on. I wanted something quiet, something intimate, something that felt like us and not like a performance.We landed somewhere in the middle. A backyard ceremony, just family and close friends, followed by a reception at the bakery. Simple. Beautiful. Ours.Lily was my maid of honor. Arya stood beside her, along with Rachel from next door, who had become one of my closest friends over the past year. Hope was the flower girl, though she was more interested in eating the petals than scattering them. Carmen cried before the ceremony even started, and I cried with her, and we both pretended we weren't crying at all.Aiden waited for me at the altar we had built ourselves, a woo
SERENAThe box came home with us.I carried it through airport security, held it on my lap during the flight, kept it beside me in the car on the drive back to Miami. Aiden didn't ask why I wouldn't let it go. He didn't need to. He understood that some things were too precious to trust to baggage handlers and cargo holds.Hope was waiting on the porch with Carmen when we pulled into the driveway. She ran to me the way she always did, her small arms wrapping around my legs, her face pressed into my thighs. I set the box down carefully and scooped her up, held her close, breathed her in."Mama home," she said."Mama's home, baby. Mama's home."Carmen smiled and disappeared inside, giving us space. Aiden took the box and carried it into the living room, setting it on the coffee table where it would stay for the next several days, a centerpiece of memory and grief and hope.That night, after Hope was asleep, I sat on the floor in front of the box and opened it again. Not to search. Not to
SERENAThe call came on a Tuesday morning, three weeks after Adrian left.I was at the bakery, up to my elbows in flour, trying to finish a wedding cake order that was already behind schedule. Lily was on the phone with a supplier, arguing about delivery dates. Arya was in the back, dealing with a temperamental oven that had decided today was the day to stop working. It was chaos, the kind of chaos that had become normal, the kind that meant the business was thriving even when everything felt like it was falling apart.My phone buzzed. I ignored it at first, too focused on the piping bag in my hand, the delicate flowers I was trying to create. But it buzzed again. And again. And again.I wiped my hands on my apron and picked it up.Unknown number. New York area code."Hello?""Serena Delaney?" The voice on the other end was professional, clipped, the voice of someone who made phone calls for a living."This is she.""My name is Rebecca Thornton. I'm an attorney with Thornton & Associa
SERENAThe call came on a Tuesday morning, three weeks after Adrian left.I was at the bakery, up to my elbows in flour, trying to finish a wedding cake order that was already behind schedule. Lily was on the phone with a supplier, arguing about delivery dates. Arya was in the back, dealing with a temperamental oven that had decided today was the day to stop working. It was chaos, the kind of chaos that had become normal, the kind that meant the business was thriving even when everything felt like it was falling apart.My phone buzzed. I ignored it at first, too focused on the piping bag in my hand, the delicate flowers I was trying to create. But it buzzed again. And again. And again.I wiped my hands on my apron and picked it up.Unknown number. New York area code."Hello?""Serena Delaney?" The voice on the other end was professional, clipped, the voice of someone who made phone calls for a living."This is she.""My name is Rebecca Thornton. I'm an attorney with Thornton & Associa
SERENAAdrian stayed for four days.The first morning, I woke up to the sound of him in the kitchen with Hope, the two of them making pancakes while Aiden slept in. I stood in the doorway and watched them, this uncle and his niece, the girl who looked so much like my daughter and the man who could have been her father if things had gone differently. There was no bitterness in the observation anymore. Just a quiet acceptance, a recognition of the path not taken and the peace that came with letting it go.Hope was sitting on the counter, a bowl of pancake batter in her lap, her small hands covered in flour. Adrian was beside her, his back to me, his voice low and patient as he explained the difference between stirring and mixing, the importance of not overworking the batter. He was good at this, I realized. Better than I had expected. Being a father had changed him in ways I hadn't seen until now."Good morning," I said.Adrian turned. His face broke into a smile, the kind that reached
ADRIAN“What do you mean you can’t find her?” The PI was silent for a while, clearly terrified by the tone of my voice. I was standing by the window of my office, staring down at the street below and clutching my phone so tightly that it was a miracle it didn’t shatter. “Mr. Knight, I’m so sorry,
SERENALiving with Lily settled into something quiet and oddly functional faster than I expected, mostly because she stayed out of my way. Truth be told, it didn’t even feel like she was here most of the time. After the first few days, I even forgot that she was here sometimes. She spent most of h
UNKNOWN POVI sat alone at the bar longer than I should have, nursing a drink that tasted wrong and flat, watching the ice melt and refreeze in my head while the room buzzed around me without ever touching me. The bartender asked if I wanted another, and I nodded without looking up because talking
SERENAI sat on my bed with my laptop open and my phone beside it, refreshing pages that didn’t change no matter how many times I reloaded them. I’d been at it for over an hour, clicking through the same empty results, spelling his name differently, adding and removing words, switching between tabs







