But in the moment, all he could do was stand in the hallway and ask the question, and wait to see which of the many possible women Vanessa was would turn around and answer him.

Chapter 3 — I’ve Handled Everything

Vanessa looked up.

And for one brief second, before she composed herself, Daniel saw on her face a coldness he had never seen there before — a flat, calculating emptiness, the look of a person interrupted mid-task rather than a person discovered in a horror.

Then it vanished, and in its place came the warm, gentle smile that had made him fall in love with her two years earlier.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart,” she said.