She nods, a brief smile crossing her face, and slips out.
That damned lunch.
I still don’t know why I couldn’t convince Ceci to let it go. She insisted on celebrating the acquisition in Atlantic City, and when she looked at me with that soft, perfect smile, I didn’t stand a chance.
Almost two weeks ago, when she stopped by my office, I’d leaned in expecting nothing more than a quick peck. Instead, her kiss had been pure surrender, quieting the relentless tension in my chest in an instant. I’d spent the entire morning with a heavy sense of dread, convinced something was wrong, though I couldn’t name it. The feeling vanished the moment she walked in, simply because she was there. Because she hadn’t wanted to miss seeing me.
I left work on time that night. For once.
And came home to an empty house. Ceci and the kids out with Mark.
She’s been working a lot lately. Some nights, when I get home late, she’s already asleep. Other times, when I make it back earlier, she takes hours to come to bed, often long after I’ve drifted off.
More than once, I’ve woken in the middle of the night to find her curled on the far edge of the mattress. Only when I pull her into my arms does sleep finally come.
I miss making love to her. But I understand how exhausted she must be.
Once she finishes this article, I’ll make up for the time we’ve lost.
Cecily
My gaze drifts over the pool area. Laughter rises easily, glasses clink, conversations overlap. Everyone savoring one of those deceptively warm autumn afternoons before the cold settles in for good. I’d considered serving lunch indoors, but that would have been too much. I wouldn’t have lasted.
This isn’t easy.
But I need to do it.
I need to see how they move around each other. I need to understand… with my own eyes.
Colin is exactly where he belongs, circulating among the team that handled the Atlantic City acquisition, their families and partners scattered comfortably around him. He looks relaxed. At home in the role he’s built for himself.
Maya didn’t bring a date. What a surprise.
Or maybe not. Maybe the man she would have brought already lives in this house… and wears the ring I slid onto his finger.
The entire afternoon, Colin keeps his distance from her. He doesn’t brush against her, doesn’t linger too close, doesn’t let his attention stray. Maya, on the other hand, does her best to remain within the same conversational orbit—shifting subtly, recalibrating her position every time the circle changes.
I can almost see how it began. The stolen glances. The manufactured excuses to stay close. The slow, dangerous pull neither of them chose to resist.
And yet…
That doesn’t absolve him.
If anything, it makes it worse.
Harper pulls me from my thoughts, approaching with an extra glass of wine. Felicity and Oliver couldn’t make it, they’d already promised their kids a show they’d been looking forward to. My invitation was last-minute, and I can’t blame them.
What surprises me most is that Colin didn’t question my sudden urge to host a celebration for one of Montgomery Clifford’s many acquisitions. In the early years, I did this often. I loved opening our home, playing hostess—even back when we lived in the Upper East Side penthouse his parents gave us. But as the company grew, so did the number of deals worth celebrating, and eventually it all blurred together. I haven’t hosted anything like this in years.
He even mentioned it wasn’t necessary.
I just smiled and said I insisted.
He didn’t argue. Didn’t probe. He simply accepted it. And I started sending emails.
My eyes drift across the pool to where Ethan and Alicia sit with my parents. I need them close today. It’s the only way I can keep breathing through the afternoon.
“Look at her,” Harper murmurs, tipping her chin toward Maya. She’s holding court with three single men and a young couple who can’t be older than their late twenties. “She can’t stop touching her tights, like she’s auditioning her legs for their own spotlight. And honestly, a bodycon dress with short sleeves in this weather? Add that laugh you can hear across the yard, and it’s a full performance.”
