Chapter 2

“What was it?” Nikki couldn’t remember.

“Meeting my parents,” Felix’s voice lifted slightly with the urgency of it. “They’re in town, and they really want to meet you.”

The hallway was quiet.

Quiet enough that Nikki heard the sharp click of a lighter snapping shut at the far end of the hall.

Short. Sharp. Like something breaking.

When Nikki didn’t answer, Felix added quickly, “I just think you’re amazing. Don’t overthink it. My parents are here on vacation, and I thought it was a good opportunity. But if it feels too sudden, forget I said anything.”

Nikki’s fingers tightened around the insulated bag.

At the end of the hallway, the red tip of Sean’s cigarette still glowed in the dark.

She didn’t look over.

She didn’t have to. She knew he was there.

“Okay,” she said. “Set it up.”

Felix’s excitement was impossible to hide.

“Really? Great. I’ll tell them.”

Nikki nodded.

Felix smiled wider. “I’ll drive you home.”

At the other end of the hallway, the red glow suddenly dimmed. It looked as though Sean had taken a long, hard drag.

A moment later, the cigarette was crushed against the rim of the trash can and snuffed out.

Sean stood motionless in the shadows.

He had heard every word. Clear as day.

“Meeting my parents.”

“Okay. Set it up.”

He closed his eyes. His throat worked as he swallowed.

He stood there for a long time, until ash had scattered at his feet.

Then he turned and walked into the stairwell.

His footsteps echoed through the empty space, one after another, like a heavy heartbeat.

*

It was 7:10 a.m., and the sky was still dark when Nikki climbed into Felix’s passenger seat.

He started the car, but before pulling out, he switched on her seat warmer.

“Cold?”

“I’m okay.”

Felix reached over and adjusted the air vent toward her.

As they drove out of the garage, a late-season cold snap had rolled in with the March fog. The streetlights cast a dim yellow glow across the road.

Nikki stared out the window and thought that maybe life with Felix would be like this.

It would be steady and gentle, without wild highs or crushing lows.

Without heartbreak.

She was twenty-nine. It was time to choose a life that didn’t hurt.

At the next intersection, a black Porsche Cayenne suddenly swerved in from the right lane and cut them off.

Felix tapped the brakes and honked.

“Is this guy out of his mind?”

But Nikki was staring at the license plate.

It was Sean’s car.

Instead of speeding away, the Porsche slowed until it was driving alongside them.

Its windows were too dark to see through.

The two cars were less than a yard apart, but Nikki didn’t turn her head.

Felix changed lanes and passed the Porsche.

In the rearview mirror, it swerved toward the curb as if the driver were looking for a place to pull over.

Nikki looked away.

Her phone suddenly buzzed.

It was a text from an unknown number.

“Can we talk?”

There was no name attached.

But Nikki knew exactly who it was.

She stared at the screen, her finger hovering over it.

After a full ten seconds, she deleted the message.

“Who’s texting this early?” Felix asked casually.

“Spam,” she said.

Meeting someone’s parents had always been a nightmare for Nikki.

When she first got together with Sean, she had thought she was Cinderella meeting her prince.

Then one day, the fairy tale shattered.

It wasn’t that she had lost the glass slipper.

It was that someone had held it up and made it clear she had never been good enough to wear it.

Nikki and Sean had been together for six months when his mother invited her to coffee alone at the city’s most exclusive hotel.

Susan Zimmer wore an impeccably tailored dress and a diamond bracelet. Her voice was warm, but her eyes swept over Nikki from head to toe with the cool precision of an appraisal.

“Nikki, I hear your parents work for the city utilities department?”

“Yes.”

“Which city?”

“Linford.”

“Linford...” Susan took a sip of coffee and smiled. “I have an old college friend who heads the department there. I could make a call, if you’d like. Maybe get your parents into something with better hours.”

Nikki went still.

It wasn’t kindness.

It was a calculated reminder of the distance between their worlds.

“No, thank you, Mrs. Ford. My parents are happy where they are.”

“I see.” Susan set down her cup and looked at Nikki, her smile polite but faintly condescending. “Sean has an older brother who’s already taken over the family business. Sean, on the other hand, has always been free to do as he pleases. The family never tried to stop him.”

Her smile faded.

“But there is one thing we’ve always been firm about. The woman he marries has to be a suitable match.”

Her words, “a suitable match,” hit Nikki like ice water.

“I don’t mean to suggest you aren’t a lovely girl,” Susan continued smoothly. “You’re beautiful, well educated, and clearly capable. But in families like ours, marriage is never just about two people.”

She paused.

“Think about it. When Sean goes to events with his friends, they’ll have women from prominent families on their arms. And Sean would bring...”

She didn’t finish the sentence.

But Nikki understood exactly what she meant.

On the ride home that day, Nikki cried the entire way on the subway.

She never told Sean about it. She hadn’t wanted to put him in a difficult position.

She only thought that if she worked harder and achieved more, maybe one day she would be good enough for him.

So she threw herself into applying to doctoral programs, determined to become someone better.

She believed that if she became accomplished enough, their difference in background would no longer matter.

Until Sean’s final cruelty shattered that illusion.

He was just like his mother.

All along, they had both believed she wasn’t good enough.

*

The fog outside Sean’s car grew thicker.

Ten minutes passed, but Nikki never replied.

Vivian called again and again, but he ignored every call.

His eyes stayed fixed on his phone as he checked it over and over, waiting for a new message that never came.

More pedestrians began to fill the sidewalks as the morning wore on, and his heart sank deeper with every passing minute.

Then Susan called.

He answered.

“Sean, how could you treat Vivian like this? She was hurt, and you left her with the housekeeper before taking off on your own. Have you forgotten what you promised her?”

Sean pressed a hand to his forehead and leaned over the steering wheel, his eyes squeezed shut.

All he could see was Nikki standing beside another man.

She had moved on. She was starting a new life.

The only one still trapped in the past was him.

*

Nikki went home, slept for a few hours, and woke in the afternoon.

The first thing she saw was a text from Felix.

Felix had picked a time and place for them to meet three days later at Daylily House.

Nikki’s eyes widened.

Why there, of all places?

Daylily House had become one of the city’s trendiest spots. It was a bookstore, flower shop, and café all in one, with subtle aviation-inspired details throughout the space.

Vivian owned it.

Sean had originally opened it for her as a small bookstore.

Vivian was a talented painter with a quiet, intellectual elegance.

Nikki had once been jealous, but Sean had only laughed.

“What goes on in that head of yours? Vivian doesn’t like me. She’s in love with someone else.”

Nikki had believed him.

Sean had treated her too well for her to doubt him. Despite being born into money, he had learned to cook and do laundry for her. For a while, he had even hand-washed her delicates himself.

Eventually, she had stopped dwelling on it.

“Could we pick somewhere else?” she texted Felix.

“What’s wrong? My parents chose the place, and they already made a reservation. It’s hard to get a table there. They might be disappointed if we cancel.”

Nikki bit her lip.

She told herself that if she had truly moved on, it shouldn’t matter.

After hesitating for a while, she replied.

“Okay. I’ll be there on time.”

Vivian’s hand was injured. She might not even be there.

And even if she was, Nikki had nothing to avoid.

*

Three days later, Nikki arrived at Daylily House.

Their table was by the window, next to a wall of bookshelves with fresh flowers tucked between the rows. The air carried the warm scent of coffee, paper, and flowers, giving the place a quiet, refined feel.

Framed paintings lined the walls, each one signed by Vivian.

Nikki glanced at them once, then looked away.

Felix’s parents sat across from her. Both wore glasses and had the calm, thoughtful presence of people who had spent their lives teaching.

Felix had told her that they had both taught at a public high school in their hometown for years.

“Nikki, what do your parents do?” Mrs. Zeller asked.

“They both work for the city utilities department back home.”

“That’s lovely.” Mrs. Zeller nodded, her approval clear. “Felix talks about you all the time. He told us you were beautiful, but that doesn’t even begin to cover it. You’re lovely, intelligent, and successful. You’re such a wonderful young woman.”

Nikki felt herself blush at the praise and lowered her eyes to take a sip of coffee.

For once, this felt easy.

Maybe she had finally found people who saw her worth.

Maybe she had found a life where neither she nor her parents would ever be made to feel small.

As the conversation continued, the mood grew more relaxed.

Mrs. Zeller started telling stories about Felix as a boy. She said he had always been responsible, never caused them any trouble, and had done well in school without needing to be pushed.

Mr. Zeller was quieter, but he looked at Nikki warmly. Every now and then, he nodded or added a few words to the conversation.

A soft warmth spread through Nikki’s chest.

Maybe this was what a normal life was supposed to feel like.

Being welcomed, being cared for, and being treated like family.

Then footsteps sounded from the second floor.

A child’s sweet voice called out at the same time.

“Mommy, Daddy, I want to come down!”

Nikki casually glanced toward the stairs and froze instantly.