se
hts flashed outside, mocking my gray, broken world. I clutched
ust the emotional turmoil; it felt physical. I cracked t
ns after a failed IVF cycle could cause physical discomfor
ablishment for sports elites, a place Jase frequented. I'd never
and pushed the door open. The doorm
oice steady. "I'm his wife." The man's
ed of cigars and expensive cologne. Men in sharp suits talke
, in a booth at the fa
as kissing her hair. They looked so perfect, so ha
replacing the numbness
f my heels against the marble flo
e, then twisted into an expression of annoyan
no panic in her eyes, only a triumphant smi
cry. I didn't scream. I just looked
me. "Alyse, don't make a sc
ich home? The one I decorated for us, o
e sincerity. "Sister, don't blame Jase
so much like my mother's. "Truly in love? Your l
dening. "Alyse, that's enough! Sie
in the heart. I had just lost my chance at a child
eyes darting between the three of us. I
y purse, pulled out the key to our apartment,
id, each word precise. "Not because of you
glance. Behind me, I heard Jase's stunned
d. I nearly collapsed. The naus
wall as my phone ra
call, desperate to escap
our real home. The one with the nursery I had
nt, I walked straight int
had assembled myself. Tiny socks I
a flood I could no longer hold back. I had prepared everything for t
. I irritably declined it once more,
t hung up on Dr. Evans, tryi
e was a success.
nded by the dream world I had created,
tled into my bones, accompanied b
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