LOGIN“Okay.” I put my fork down. “Go ahead. I'm listening.”Alan drew in a deep breath. “I've been thinking all night, and I get it. As much as it hurts that you don't believe me, I tried putting myself in your shoes. I'm not sure I would believe me either if I were you.”“I understand your doubts, Nora.” He dragged a hand down his face. “I wish I could go back. If I had the chance, I would've done everything differently. I should've told you the moment I saw you in London, before Lory ran her mouth and made the decision for me. But you would've still found out, and we'd probably still be sitting here having this conversation.”He rubbed his palms together, a rare nervousness slipping through. “I can tell you I love you a hundred times, Nora. We can have this conversation every day for the next month, and I don't think any of it will make you believe me. But none of that changes how we got here. This is on me. I messed us up. I brought us here, and I'm going to fix it.”His voice softened.
NORAI had never imagined there would be a time when Alan would tell me he loved me and I wouldn't be excited.God knew how desperately I'd wanted this. There was a time when I thought hearing those words from him would be one of the happiest moments of my life. I had imagined what I would say, how I would react, whether I would cry or throw myself at him.But sitting there with Alan telling me he loved me, I felt everything but happy.And I hated it. God, I hated it so much.Because even if I accepted his love now, how was I supposed to stop myself from questioning where it came from?I was done with the conversation for tonight. My head was full, my body was tired, and dragging it out wouldn't suddenly give me the answers I wanted.“I need to sleep. For myself and the baby.”Alan nodded, though the hurt hadn't left his face. He got up and led me upstairs.Instead of taking me to the room Lory had shown me earlier, he stopped in front of another door.I glanced at him. “Is this my ro
ALANI wanted to tell Nora about Amy's diary myself, obviously. Just not literally minutes after she got back.Damn Lory and her diarrhea mouth.I should never have let her stay when Mom said she wanted to wait for Nora. As I dragged her toward the door, she kept running her mouth the whole way, insisting she was not the actual problem here, that if I had manned up sooner, none of this would even be an issue, said or unsaid.I shut the door in her face. Nora opened it right back up for her.She gave me the middle finger and disappeared upstairs with Nora. Knowing Lory's mouth, I had very little hope that conversation would end well for me.I went to the kitchen and vented straight at my mother, asking why Lory had to go and ruin this for me, threatening to ban her from ever setting foot in my house again.Mom just smiled. “Nora was always going to find out about that diary eventually, Alan. Today, tomorrow, next week. Unless your plan was to lie to her about why you suddenly bought a
NORAI'd given Alan those wishes expecting him to have a little fun with them. Knowing him, probably something naughty that would benefit both of us. I definitely hadn't pictured one of those wishes being used to drag me back to Manhattan.“Alan, you should probably wish for something else.”“If you want to take it back, I'll understand.” He held my gaze. “But you told me the only rule was that I couldn't ask for anything illegal. I haven't broken it.”“Alan, I just…”“Whatever you're worried about, it's already taken care of,” he cut in gently. “I swear on my life, things won't be like they were before. Just come home with me. I promise you won't regret it.”The certainty in his voice threw me. He wasn't trying to convince himself or even convince me. He sounded like he knew something I didn't.What could've changed?Unless he'd somehow stopped loving Amy and decided the promises he'd made her no longer mattered, I couldn't think of anything. And knowing Alan, I couldn't picture eith
ALANThe second I got into my car, I started calling everyone back home. I found her. That was pretty much all I kept saying. I found Nora.My mother, Lory, Noah—everyone knew she was okay. Dad's only instruction was that I better not come home without my wife.As if there was any chance of that.I didn't tell any of them about the pregnancy. I'd seen the bump with my own eyes, but I was almost afraid to believe what it meant. I'd spent months believing my child was gone. Until Nora told me herself that I was wrong, I couldn't let myself hope.Now I just needed six o'clock to hurry the hell up.I desperately wished I had some sort of magic power to push the clock straight to six. Leaving and coming back wasn't an option either. I wasn't risking Nora disappearing on me again.If Noah hadn't given me that hint, London would've been one of the last places I'd have thought to search.Amy never loved London. A few times, I'd considered buying a place here so I'd have somewhere comfortable
NORAAlan was the last person I expected to see standing there. A dozen questions crowded my head at once, but I was still on the clock, so I shoved them aside and did my job.His eyes were still fixed on my stomach. The disbelief was written all over his face, and I wondered if he'd even heard me.“Sir?” I repeated, a little louder. “Is there anything I can help you with?”“Nora.”He said my name slowly, like he needed to hear himself say it to believe I was actually standing in front of him.“Do you work here?”“Yes.”A strange laugh left him as he shook his head. “Of course.”He headed farther into the showroom, and I followed.“I'm glad you're the one assisting me, then.”I wasn't sure what to make of that, so I waited for him to tell me what he needed.“I just bought a house here in London.” He stopped and turned to me. “Are you married?”I gave him a confused look, not following where this was going. “I think so.”His lips curved into a smile. “I'm married too. Though I did some







