1. Six Months

Zara.

"I have six months to live."

That's what the doctor said. Six months. Maybe less. She said it like she was reading a grocery list. Clinical. Detached. Like my life wasn't shattering on the floor between us.

I sat in that sterile office with its fake plants and its soft lighting and I didn't cry. Not one tear. I just nodded. I said, "Thank you." I took the paper she handed me. I folded it once, twice, three times. I put it in my coat pocket. And then I walked out like nothing had happened.

Six months. One hundred and eighty days. Four thousand three hundred and twenty hours.

I drove home on autopilot. Same streets. Same coffee shop where I used to stop for Nathan's morning latte. Same park where Chloe took her first steps. Same grocery store where Margaret once screamed at me in the produce aisle for buying the wrong brand of tomatoes. Every crack in that road was familiar. Every stoplight. Every turn. I had been driving that route blindfolded for eight years.

The house was dark when I pulled in. Of course it was. Nathan was never home early. He was always working, always busy, always somewhere else. I used to wait up for him. I used to keep dinner warm. I used to sit by the window like a dog waiting for its owner.

Not anymore.

I walked in, hung up my coat, and stood in the kitchen in the dark. The clock ticked. Seven forty-two. He'd be home soon. Maybe.

I rehearsed the words in my head.

Nathan, I went to the doctor today. I have six months to live.

Nathan, I need to tell you something. It's serious.

Nathan, please. Just listen.

I practiced saying it calmly. Without tears. Without drama. Just the facts. Maybe then he'd hear me. Maybe then he'd stop, just for one second, and look at me. Really look at me. Like he used to, back when we first met. Back when he used to call me beautiful. Back when he used to touch me like I was something precious instead of something permanent.

The front door opened. Keys hit the bowl. Shoes on the tile. His voice, already talking, already distracted.

"Zara? You home?"

I stepped out of the kitchen. He was loosening his tie, phone pressed to his ear. He didn't look at me. He just walked past me toward the stairs.

"No, Mother, I told you, I'll handle it. Yes. Tonight. I said tonight."

He hung up. Still didn't look at me. He stood in the hallway, scrolling through his phone, and I stood in the doorway with my heart pounding in my throat.

"Nathan."

"Hmm?"

"I need to tell you something."

"Can it wait? I have to shower. I have a call with Tokyo in an hour."

"It's important."

He finally looked up. But not at me. At his watch. "Everything's important, Zara. That's the problem."

I opened my mouth. The words were right there, burning in my throat. Six months. I'm dying. I need you. I need someone. Please. Just listen. Just once.

"Nathan, I went to the doctor today."

He froze.

For a second, just a second, I thought he might actually hear me.

Then he said: "Good. You should go. My mother wants us to hire a surrogate."

The words hit me like a slap.

"What?"

"A surrogate." He said it like it was normal. Like he was telling me we needed milk. "Mother's been pushing for it for months. You can't give me a son, Zara. We've been over this. It's time to face facts."

I stared at him. I couldn't breathe. "You want to hire a woman to have your child?"

"I want a son." He said it slowly, like I was stupid. "You have a daughter. I need an heir. The Vance name doesn't die with me."

"Nathan, I,"

"I've already chosen someone." He cut me off. He always cut me off. "Ariel."

The name landed like a knife between my ribs.

"Ariel?"

"She's been attending appointments for weeks. She's careful. She's committed to this." He said it with something like pride. "The doctors say she's ideal. Young. Healthy. No complications."

"She's your first love."

"She's a family friend. And she's willing to help." He said that word, help, like it meant something noble. Like Ariel was doing me a favor. "You should be grateful, Zara. Most husbands would have left years ago."

I felt the diagnosis paper in my pocket. The corners were sharp. They dug into my palm.

"Nathan," I whispered. "I went to the doctor today."

"I know. You said. Make sure you book the follow-up. And start taking your vitamins. We need you healthy for the surrogacy process."

He walked upstairs. The water turned on. He started humming. He hummed in the shower. He always did.

I stood in the hallway for a long time. The clock ticked. The house settled. The diagnosis paper stayed folded in my pocket.

I walked to the kitchen. I sat at the table in the dark. I didn't turn on the lights. I just sat there, alone, listening to the water run upstairs, listening to my husband hum while he washed off the day he spent with another woman.

Eight years. That's how long I'd been married. Eight years of burnt dinners and cold beds. Eight years of Margaret's venom and Chloe's indifference. Eight years of swallowing my pride and my pain and my voice. Eight years of waiting for him to see me.

And now I had six months.

I pulled the paper from my pocket. I unfolded it slowly. I read the words again. Terminal. Six months. Palliative care recommended.

Then I said the first honest thing I'd said in eight years. I said it to the empty kitchen. I said it to the clock on the wall. I said it to myself.

"Then I'll spend them on me."

The Next Morning.

I woke up before the sun. Nathan was still asleep, snoring, sprawled across the bed like he owned it. Which, I guess, he did. Everything was his. The house. The cars. The company. The money. Even me.

I got up carefully. I didn't wake him. I went to the closet and pulled out a small suitcase. I packed the essentials. Clothes. My laptop. The small box of jewelry that belonged to my mother. The diagnosis paper. I left everything else.

Then I went downstairs and made breakfast.

Not for Nathan. For Chloe.

She came down at seven. She was seventeen now, thin and sharp and beautiful. She had Nathan's eyes and my smile and a mean streak she had learned from her grandmother.

"Where's Dad?" she asked, not looking up from her phone.

"Still sleeping."

"Did he tell you about the surrogate?"

I froze. "He told you?"

"I told him to." She said it casually. Like it was nothing. Like she hadn't just shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. "I think it's a good idea. I want a brother."

"You want a brother."

"I want a normal family." She looked up from her phone and stared at me. "I want a mom who doesn't act like a servant. I want a dad who isn't embarrassed to be around us. I want a house where everything isn't so... heavy."

"Chloe,"

"I wish Ariel was my mom."

The words hung in the air between us. I felt them like a physical blow. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to grab her shoulders and shake her until she saw me, really saw me, the way she used to, back when she was little, back when she used to call me "Mama" and hold my hand in parking lots.

But I didn't do any of that. I just put the plate of eggs in front of her and said, "Eat your breakfast."

She rolled her eyes. She took a bite. She didn't say thank you.

I went back to the kitchen and stood at the sink. I washed the pan. I wiped the counter. I took a slow, deep breath.

"You're not invisible," I whispered to myself. "You're not nothing. You're not nothing."

But I wasn't sure I believed it yet.

Nathan left for work at nine. He didn't kiss me goodbye. He didn't say "I love you." He just walked past me with his coffee and his phone and said, "I'll be late tonight. Mother wants to discuss the surrogacy contract."

"Alright."

"Oh, and Zara?"

I looked up.

"Fix your face before she comes over. You look tired."

He closed the door.

I stood in the entryway and listened to his car pull out of the driveway. The house went quiet. The clock ticked. The silence pressed in around me like a hand around my throat.

I walked to the living room and sat on the couch. I looked around at everything, the expensive furniture, the useless decorations, the family photos that had never actually felt like family. I saw myself in every frame. Standing slightly to the side. Smiling just a little too hard. Holding Chloe's hand while she looked somewhere else.

I had been in this house for eight years. And I had never once been home.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the diagnosis paper. I read it again. Six months. Then I pulled out my phone and opened a new note.

I typed one word: Exit.

And then I started planning.