“Dr.

Bennett offered me fifty-two thousand dollars a year to manage Oak Street Dental,” I said.

“I accepted it the same day.”

Heather opened her own messaging app with a quick thumb and turned her phone toward me.

A text from Seth, sent two weeks earlier on October fourteenth, filled the middle of the screen.

*Natalie insists on watching Maddie and Ben starting Monday,* the text read. *She wants out of the clinic, so go ahead and cancel Sunshine Kids Daycare today.*

“He told me you begged him for this,” Heather whispered, pressing her lips together until they went white.