“I love you, babe, but I gotta run.” He tossed the words behind him as he closed the front door, leaving me stunned in his brisk wake. My husband, the pediatrician, didn’t even offer to look in on his own child. Unreal.

On my way to deal with Collette, I popped in the bathroom to grab a migraine pill. The headaches had grown more frequent as Collette’s colic kept me up all hours of the night. There, on the vanity, was the teal mug Willow had made me when she was six years old, a third full of cold coffee that I’d been missing since this morning. I felt just as empty inside as that cup.

If only Grant knew I had already bought myself a new dress for tonight—a whole wardrobe, in fact, the last time he ditched me for the guys—maybe he’d have thought twice about leaving.

Chapter 5

Lily

NINE DAYS AGO

Friends are the flowers you pick to beautify your life. But eventually they lose their vibrancy and begin to smell like cacca.

I could have slapped Mackenzie through the phone, but I decided to go easy on her. As easy as a fuming Italian woman could be. I had lost my patience.

“You’ve got to be friggin’ kidding me with this merda, Mac. Stop letting Owen control you. Basta basta!” I yelled into the phone. It was the same old, same old with her—always committing, always canceling. An exhausting wheel I was tired of being run over with. Once again she had canceled our workout, but more than that, she had canceled on the plan.

“Language, Lily. And stop with the Italian. I have no idea what you’re saying.” Mackenzie always sounded so defeated that it physically hurt me to hear her speak.

“Enough is enough—that’s all I’m trying to say.” I paced the living room to work the rage out of my system. It was a wonder I had any carpet left. “You’ve got to stand up for yourself. Do what’s best for you, not that asshole husband of yours.”

“Please. No need to swear at me just because I bailed on our workout.” Mackenzie’s unruffled acceptance of her miserable life irritated me even more than the cancelation. A little righteous anger would have been nice.

I picked up an empty plate from the coffee table and carried it to the kitchen. “I’ll fuckin’ swear if I want to. You’re pissing me off. I have a right to be upset when I clear my evening for you, clear my damn life for you, and you screw me over . . . again. You realize you have zero credibility as a friend, right?” I dropped the dish into the sink.

Mackenzie sighed over the line. I hoped the weight of guilt suffocated her enough to shed the doormat act.

“I’m sorry, Lil, but it’s complicated.”