Chapter 1

My phone buzzed while everyone at the table was still laughing.

It was my manager, Paul.

I stared at the screen for two seconds before answering.

"Leah, where are you?

"The client waited twenty minutes and left."

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

"Something came up with my family."

There was a pause.

"Is everyone okay?"

I looked at my family in front of me, laughing so hard they could barely sit upright.

"They're fine."

"Good."

He sighed.

"But you've been working this client for four months, and he flies back to Germany tomorrow. There's a good chance we just lost the contract. Just so you're prepared."

The call ended.

My younger sister, Chloe, leaned across the table.

"Wow. You actually messed up work this time?"

Her eyes were bright with amusement.

"If I'd known your boss would call, I would've bet fifty minutes instead. Then we could've heard him yell at you too."

Mom lightly smacked her arm.

"Enough. Don't push it."

Before I could even breathe out, she turned to me.

"Leah, honestly. It's Thanksgiving. Couldn't your client sign another day?

"Money isn't more important than family."

Dad nodded immediately.

"Exactly. You can always find another client. But if something really happened to your mother? You can't exactly go out and find another one."

He sounded so pleased with his own logic that Chloe burst out laughing.

"Dad, the way you say it, you'd think Mom actually spent the night in intensive care."

The whole table laughed again.

Then I noticed a sheet of paper half-hidden beneath Chloe's phone.

Three crooked lines were written across it.

Dad's car accident—twenty-seven minutes.

Grandma's fall—thirty-three minutes.

Mom dying—forty-one minutes.

Below that, she had drawn a downward arrow.

Leah's getting slower.

I stared at it.

"You've been keeping records?"

Chloe followed my gaze and immediately grabbed the paper.

"Of course. These are my wins."

She shoved it toward my boyfriend, Grant Callahan.

"See? I told you Mom was the best one to use."

Grant skimmed the page and tugged Chloe's ponytail.

"Next time, don't take it this far."

I looked at him.

"There's going to be a next time?"

He paused.

Then he slid a piece of steak onto my plate.

"Come on. I was just saying.

"Why do you jump on every little thing I say lately?"

His voice dropped.

"Everyone's having a good time. Don't make things awkward again."

I looked at the steak on my plate.

Suddenly I had no appetite at all.

At eleven that night, the company email arrived.

TRANSFER APPROVED.

Vancouver office.

Three-year assignment.

Report in three days.

I clicked Accept.

From the living room, Chloe's laughter floated down the hall.

"Mom, what should we use to trick her next year?"

Dad answered without hesitation.

"There's still Grandma June."

Everyone laughed.

I closed my laptop.

For the first time, I didn't walk out and ask what was so funny.