My birthday arrived three weeks later like a test I hadn't studied for.
Anders had planned everything perfectly, as he always did. Dinner at Chez Laurent, the French restaurant where we'd had our first official date. White roses waiting at our table—my favorite, though I'd never told him red felt too passionate for someone living a lie. The sommelier presented a bottle of champagne with a flourish, and Anders raised his glass with that smile that used to make my heart skip.
"To the most beautiful woman in the world," he said, his eyes soft with what looked like genuine adoration. "Happy birthday, Ocean."
I clinked my glass against his, the crystal singing a note that felt like a funeral dirge. "Thank you. This is perfect."
Perfect. The word tasted bitter on my tongue. Everything about this evening was perfect—his navy suit that brought out his eyes, the way he'd pulled out my chair, the thoughtful gift of first-edition Neruda poems he'd somehow remembered I mentioned wanting. Perfect, except for the fact that it was all a performance.
"I have something else for you," he said, reaching into his jacket pocket. My heart lurched, terrified he might produce a ring. Instead, he pulled out a small velvet box. "I know it's not much, but—"
Inside lay a delicate silver bracelet, simple and elegant. Not expensive by Coleman standards, but clearly chosen with care. I stared at it, feeling something crack inside my chest. How could he be so thoughtful while betraying me so completely?
"It's beautiful," I whispered, and meant it. That was the cruelest part—some of his gestures still felt real.
As he fastened the bracelet around my wrist, his fingers gentle against my skin, my phone buzzed. I glanced at it reflexively.
Unknown number: "Enjoying your special dinner? You look lovely in blue. He's quite the actor, isn't he?"
The blood drained from my face. I looked around the restaurant, scanning the other diners with new eyes. There, at a corner table partially hidden by a decorative screen, sat a woman with dark hair. She raised her wine glass in a mock toast when our eyes met.
Rylie.
"Everything okay?" Anders asked, following my gaze. His expression didn't change when he spotted her, but I saw the slight tightening around his eyes.
"Fine," I managed. "Just work."
Another text: "He told me you were boring in bed. Is that why he comes to me?"
My hands shook as I set the phone face-down. Anders continued talking about his research, his voice warm and animated, while across the room his mistress watched us like we were dinner theater.
I made it through the rest of the evening on autopilot. Smiled at his jokes. Thanked him for the perfect birthday. Let him kiss me goodnight with lips that had been on her just hours before, probably.
The next morning, I needed coffee. Real coffee, not the bitter sludge from our kitchen machine. The little café near campus had become my refuge—a place where I could think without Anders' presence suffocating me.
I was stirring honey into my latte when she appeared.
"Ocean Coleman, right?" The voice was sickeningly sweet. "I'm Rylie Henderson."
I looked up into her face—younger than mine, with the kind of aggressive prettiness that demanded attention. She slid into the seat across from me without invitation, her smile sharp as broken glass.
"I know who you are," I said quietly.
"Good. That saves time." She placed her purse on the table between us, the gesture somehow territorial. "I think we need to have a conversation."
"Do we?"
"About Anders." She leaned forward, her eyes bright with malicious excitement. "About the fact that you're standing in the way of something real."
I took a sip of my coffee, proud that my hands remained steady. "I'm not standing anywhere. I'm sitting, having coffee."
Her laugh was like nails on a chalkboard. "You can play dumb if you want, but we both know what this is about. Anders and I are in love. Really in love, not whatever this comfortable arrangement you two have is."
"Comfortable arrangement." I repeated the words like I was tasting them. "Is that what he called it?"
"He said you were... settled. Safe. That he stayed with you out of habit, not passion." Each word was calculated to wound. "But he doesn't have to settle anymore."
She reached into her purse and pulled out a small white stick. A pregnancy test. Two pink lines.
"Congratulations," I said, my voice remarkably calm. "When's the baby due?"
Her smile faltered slightly, as if she'd expected screaming or tears. "December. Anders is thrilled, of course. A family was always what he wanted."
Lies. Anders had been adamant about waiting for children until his career was more established. We'd had that conversation a dozen times.
"So here's what's going to happen," Rylie continued, regaining her composure. "You're going to step aside. Gracefully. Let the better woman have him. Because I'm not going away, Ocean. I'm having his child. I'm his future. You're just... his past."
I stood up slowly, gathering my purse. "Thank you for the coffee chat, Rylie. It's been illuminating."
"If you don't leave him," she called after me, "I'll make sure everyone knows what kind of man he really is. His career, his reputation—I'll destroy it all. Is that what you want?"
I paused at the door, looking back at her. "You know what I want? I want you to be very careful what you wish for. You might just get it."
I drove home in a daze, my mind reeling. The pregnancy could be fake—women had been known to lie about such things. But the threat was real. The malice in her eyes was real. The fact that she knew intimate details about my relationship with Anders was devastatingly real.
I sat in my car outside our house for twenty minutes, staring at the windows that had once represented home and now felt like a prison. Finally, I pulled out my phone and dialed the one number I should have called weeks ago.
"Dax? It's me. Can you come over? I need... I need help."
