I simply stopped doing everything for him, and the everything, it turned out, had been the only thing holding his world together.

Chapter 14 — First Place

My phone chimed on the desk with a message from Fiona’s school. Fiona won first place in the regional science fair, Mrs.

Sterling!

I had, by then, begun the quiet process of taking my name back, and the sight of Sterling where Vance used to be still gave me a small private jolt of pleasure every time.

There is more in that small act than it might seem, and it took me a while to understand why it moved me so much, seeing my own maiden name where my married name had been.