“Of course,” Becca said, forcing a smile to her face. She was getting pretty good at faking it, even though her cheeks hurt. “Come on in.”

Amy hurried inside, shutting the door behind her, and then bit her lip. “I couldn’t help but notice that Hank’s little girl wasn’t in class today. I know she struggled yesterday. Is everything all right? I was going to call and check in, but since you and I are friends . . .” She trailed off and gave Becca a curious look.

“Oh. Yeah.” Becca cleared her throat, trying to rid herself of the knot that was growing. “Hank has decided that his daughter doesn’t need preschool. Or any school. He’s taking her back to Alaska.” She managed to say it quite calmly, and then ruined her facade by starting to cry.

“Oh, honey.” Amy’s voice was full of sympathy as she moved to Becca’s side and pulled her close in a hug. “I feel responsible. Like it’s my fault she had a bad day—”

“It’s not you,” Becca said between sobs. It wasn’t. The day at school had just brought the whole topic to the surface. It had to come out at some point, and it would have never been easy to discuss. In a way, it was good that it had come out early, before Becca had tossed more of her life away on another man who didn’t want to give her his forever.

So she cried and told Amy all about it, and her friend made sympathetic noises and called him a jerk and promised to come over later that night with popcorn and wine and a chick flick. Then Amy had to leave again, and Becca’s next client came in, and somehow she managed to make it through the rest of the day.

And through the evening, watching movies with Amy and drinking wine. They finished early because Amy had school in the morning, and Becca checked her phone again before bedtime, downing her last glass of wine in irritation as the stupid phone remained silent. Well, she was just as stubborn as Hank. If he didn’t want to talk, she didn’t want to talk, either.

She’d told him she loved him. She’d also told him she wouldn’t go to Alaska. If he didn’t want to make it work, that was on him.

It still hurt, though.