CHAPTER 1
Mia
My last name might be Winter, but Aiden Winter and his parents, his sister, his brother, his…well,allhis family, look at me and treat me like I’m just taking up space, the same exact space they’d rather fill with their favorite family friend—a woman who is probably fertile, considering I am not.
I’d have never asked for a divorce, no matter how bad things got, except….
I love my husband. I thought I knew he loved me.
But that changed when I saw him kiss another woman.
Oh, he backed away immediately, had a whole, ‘what have I done’look on his face, but the genie was out of thefuckingbottle.
“So, this is what it takes?” my best friend asks, as she gives me a measured look.
Katya isn’t a fan of Aiden or his family. She sees them as snobs who think that if your bank accountdoesn’t have a zillion zeroes, then you aren’t worthy of their time. She also sees Aiden as their enabler.
“They’d invite Ted Bundy over and treat him better than they do you if he came from money,” she once quipped.
“Not just money,” I corrected her, slurring my words because we’d finished a whole bottle of wine between us, “it has to beoldmoney.”
“You sure this is how you want to do this?” she asks me, again, as she slides the divorce papers into a manila envelope.
We’re sitting at her dining table in her cute cottage just outside of Burlington. It has three bedrooms. I’ll be residing in one of them shortly, right after Christmas.
Katya and I grew up together.
When my parents died in an accident, her parents took me in. I was sixteen. I miss my parents every day, but Anya and Ivan made me their daughter in every way. So, Katya, in fact, is both my sisterandbest friend.
Losing Ivan three years ago was harder than when I lost my parents.
Anya now lives in an assisted living facility, a couple of hours from Burlington. Katya tried taking care of her, but early-onset dementia isn’t something that can be managed at home.
It’s progressive and heartbreaking.
Sometimes, Anya is lucid, but most of the time, she isn’t.
Katya and I mourn the woman she was before the disease took over—and try to be grateful that she’s stillwith us, that there are moments where she knows us, when she reaches for Katya or me, and remembers our names. And then it’s gone, like the tide pulling back before we can even feel the wave.
Katya and I used to visit Anya once a week, though now she mostly goes on her own. I have not been able to accompany her regularly. She understands that I have social responsibilities since I’m a Winter.
I can still hear Aiden say,“She’s not even your mother. I don’t understand why you have to go. This charity lunch is important to my parents, Mia.”
I didn’t argue. I stayed back.
I was weak and pathetic, so afraid to lose him that I just let go of myself.
No more!
“Yes, I’m sure. But use this.” I pull out an envelope from my tote. It’s gorgeous and golden—one Aiden gave me two Christmases ago with a card in, a card that simply said:'Paris Vacation'.
We still haven’t gone.
My husband is the CEO of Winter Financial, a hedge fund company that manages gazillions of dollars. His father, Nelson, is Chairman of the Board. He’s a piece of work, by which I mean a complete misogynistandasshole.
“The one thing you should be able to do, which is get knocked up, and you can’t do that. Why the fuck is he still married to you?”he once said to me.
I’d then said it was because he loved me.
