Chapter 1
Missy
“That’s it, don’t stop. Come on, baby. I’m so close.
Yes, yes, yes.” I slammed my car into park and raised my fist in triumph.
My car had started sputtering a few miles back, and I wasn’t sure if I would make it, but there I was.
I checked the rearview mirror to make sure Sophia, my seven-month-old daughter, was still asleep, and I let out a slow breath when I saw her eyes closed.
Her long dark lashes swept across her round pink cheeks, and I couldn’t help but smile.
She’s perfect, and the only good thing to come out of my three years with my now ex-fiancé, Stephen.
I grabbed my bag off the passenger seat and shoved bottles, pacifiers, and diaper cream aside until I found my cell phone.
Dead. Of course it was. This would have to be a surprise visit.
I glanced at the unassuming white house before me.
It was neat and well kept. Modest but homey.
A mud-splattered truck was parked in the driveway, and a hose and sprinkler were coiled up next to the front door.
The street was quiet, the surroundings peaceful and mountainous.
The town is called Hope for crying out loud. How can it not be adorable?
My mother’s voice echoed in the back of my mind: We’re cut out for more than a life like this, baby. You’ll see.
She always left out the part about how the only way to get a better life was to marry into it.
And if a good-looking, well-off man didn’t already have a ring on his finger, there might be a good reason.
Sophia started to stir in the back seat, and that was my cue.
I threw my diaper bag over one shoulder and my purse over the other before sliding out of the car.
“Hello, beautiful girl,” I cooed as I unbuckled her from her car seat. I was rewarded with a gummy smile.
She slept longer than I expected on our way to BC Children’s Hospital and probably needed a bottle and a diaper change.
I took a deep steadying breath and made my way to the front door of the ex-wife of my ex-fiancé.
An odd person to consider a friend, but when I knew I couldn’t stand another minute with Stephen, she was the only person who I thought would understand.
My mother certainly didn’t. When I complained to her about his lack of involvement with Sophia, she brushed me off.
“That’s how men are, baby. His job is to provide. Your job is to keep the house and the kids and make sure he has no reason to stray with other women,” she told me. My mother the feminist, ladies and gentlemen.
Not that I could blame her entirely. I am a grown woman, after all.
I couldn’t even blame Stephen. It wasn’t like he tricked me.
He wanted to present himself as the ideal family man to prospective clients, and I wanted—or thought I wanted—to be the successful businessman’s domestic other half.
We got along well; he was charming and promised a good life.
Sure, he was more than a decade older than me, but that added to his charm. Daddy issues, anyone?
I made my way to the front door, weighed down by bags and my rapidly growing daughter.
I knocked on the door and shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot.
Maybe this was a bad idea. AJ and I had chatted over social media frequently since I reached out to her, but there was a big difference between a quick message and showing up on someone’s doorstep with a baby and a car that wouldn’t run.
The door opened, and a smile spread across AJ’s face. “Missy! What are you doing here?”
I had worked with AJ while she and Stephen were going through their divorce.
I’d been a little intimidated by her then.
She rarely smiled. Her hair was always pulled back in a severe bun, her features were always pinched, and she moved around the office like a general in a control room.
Now, though, her hair fell around her shoulders, and the smile she flashed lit up her eyes.
“I’m sorry to drop in on you unannounced, but I need some help.”
AJ, who had been making faces at Sophia, froze. “What kind of help?”
A man, who I assumed was AJ’s boyfriend and the reason she quit Creative Solutions in the first place, appeared behind her.
“What happened? It’s Stephen, isn’t it? What did he do now?
I swear, I’ve wanted to punch that man, for what, seven months?
” He ran a protective hand over AJ’s swollen belly. “Say the word and it’s done.”
AJ flashed him an adoring smile. “I don’t really want you arrested so close to my due date, Sam.”
He frowned. “Well, in that case, let me take your bags.”
I gratefully passed them off, and AJ scooped Sophia out of my arms. I shut the door behind me and looked around.
Any concern I had that this would be awkward disappeared as Sam headed to the kitchen to make coffee and heat up a bottle for Sophia while AJ bounced my daughter on her lap. “So, what’s going on, Missy?”
I opened my mouth to reply, and the events of the last forty-eight hours spilled tearfully out of my mouth.
Stephen and I had been separated for months, but the lack of a partner really hit home as Sophia’s surgery date grew closer.
One of her eyes was turned in, and only surgery could fix it.
I told AJ about how my mother didn’t support me leaving Stephen.
How Stephen was too busy working to attend Sophia’s medical appointments.
How Sophia had a checkup today and surgery in two days.
And how my damn car died in their driveway.
By the time I pulled myself somewhat back together, Sam had returned.
“Car trouble?” he asked. “I can help with that. My mechanic, Max, is working at the shop today, but his son Blair might be around. I’ll give him a call. Depending on what the problem is, we can either fix it here or I can tow you to a shop. Blair owes me a favor or two anyway.”
Great, all I needed was for a stranger to know what a disaster my life had become. Still, a girl could do a lot worse than having friends who would jump to help at a moment’s notice.