“I mean it,” he said. “Quit your job, stay home for a little while. It’s not like everyone won’t be begging you to come back when you’re ready.”

It was such a kind gesture. My quitting my job would be harder on Bill. There was no doubt about that. But he was only worried about Iris and me.

“But I’ve worked so hard,” I said then. Even as I said it, I knew that, if he was serious, I wasn’t going back to that job. I loved it. I ate it, breathed it, slept it. I dreamed about clients and money and deals. But now I had Iris. And everything seemed different.

“I don’t know,” I said to Grace now. “I mean, I was upset about going back to work. Maybe I did the right thing.”

“Every woman in the world is upset about going back to work. But then they go. And they get used to it in, like, two weeks and sometimes it’s hard as hell, but they make it work.”

“Is that how it was for you?”

Grace laughed. “Oh, God no. I quit working the absolute day Troy and I got married. I hated working. It was the thing I did because I had to. But that doesn’t mean I’m not a little jealous of people like you who have a real passion for it.”

“But then you started Growing with Grace?” I asked. I was a bit of a latecomer to the heavily trafficked site. I’d probably only followed Grace for a year or two, which was so dumb because Iris was mostly grown. But there was something about her Instagram page that was so soothing and lovely that I liked to watch it just for the pleasure of it.

“Yes,” she said. “When Merit was two.” She shook her head. “Wow, fourteen years ago. That’s hard to believe.”

I looked over at her contoured cheek and her shiny ponytail. She really was the image she was selling. Well… mostly. “Can I ask you something?”

She glanced at me. “You can ask anything you’d like. I probably won’t tell you the truth, but I’ll definitely answer.” She grinned.

“Why not let your readers in on your real life? They love you. They would be Team Grace and support you all the way through your divorce and everything. You don’t have to be so perfect all the time.”

Grace laughed as she turned at the stoplight. “Oh, Charlotte. That is so sweet and so naïve.”

“Which part?”