Nausea churned through me, making the hairs on my arm stand on end.I hadn’t blocked him.I didn’t need to guess who had.

“Cora, are you okay?”my mother asked, but her voice sounded a million miles away.I brushed past her, heading for the half bath just inside the main foyer.

I burst through the door and bolted for the pristine toilet, yanking open the lid so I could ingloriously expel another round of bile.

I collapsed in front of the toilet and gagged a couple more times.

My mother’s heels clicked across the smooth gray tiles.The bathroom door swung shut a moment later, my mother on the wrong side of it.

“Are you pregnant?”

I pinched my eyes shut.“No.”I’m just life-shatteringly distraught.

“If you are, you have options,” she went on in a low, calculated voice.“And if it’s his, I suggest we take care of this immediately.”

“I…I’m not…”

“Don’t be ashamed,” my mother counseled.“We’ve all been there.But you should know that there will be limits to our support if itishis and you choose to have it.”

There it was again.The illusion of choice.I pushed back from the toilet, drawing a deep breath.

“I’m not pregnant.I’m just fucking sad.”

Her lips pursed together.I rose unsteadily and she gave me a quick squeeze on the shoulder.

“You will get past this,” she said, searing me with a meaningful look.And right there, I could tell she was trying.“It hurts for a while.But it goes away eventually.”Her throat bobbed, and then she repeated, “We’ve all been there.”

I wasn’t sure whether to thank her or push her away.So I shuffled to the sink to splash water on my face.

“I guess the house is mine now,” I croaked.“Once you puke in it, it’s yours.”

My mother tutted.“Don’t be crass, dear.I’ll meet you outside.”

I ground my teeth as I stared at my reflection.I’d spent hours refining my appearance today, to look healthy, alive, put-together.But beneath the veneer of foundation and setting spray and long-lasting mascara, I was a little girl who just wanted to be held.

Axel would have laughed at my joke and held me until the next morning.

Here in my perfect new stucco paradise, the cold winds of loneliness threatened to freeze me on the spot.

My phone buzzed from the marble countertop.I knew it was Axel, because I’d be connected to him until the day I died.

AXEL: I’m leaving for LA tonight.We’re going to solve this, Cora.

AXEL: You’ve got to let me fix this.

But there was no solution.Not for him.

Everything had already been arranged, and he couldn’t be part of the picture.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CORA

The next twenty-four hours crept by painfully, each hour an eternity as I awaited whatever came next.Early on Saturday morning, after never fully achieving sleep the night before, I decided I needed to strike a compromise with my father.I pulled myself out of bed at seven a.m., brewed the darkest coffee I could muster, and called.

“Why the early call?”my father asked in lieu of a greeting.“Don’t tell me you got locked out of your new house already.”

The churn of my stomach forced me to dive headfirst.“Axel is on his way to LA.”