They were a good team, the toast of the New York art world.

Albie, her father, was an agent and, along with a select list of New York’s elite artists, he had represented Simone for four decades. In fact, he had discovered her, and they had this perfect symbiosis between professional and personal that was the envy of the art world.

They got each other.

Sure, they fought. Her mother had an artistic temperament and often neglected everything in the midst of a project. But they’d always made up.

“What do you mean, aren’t so good?”

“I just…don’t know if we’ll be together next Christmas.”

Suzanne sucked in a breath. “Mom…no.” The thought that her parents might split up was…shocking. She knew it was none of her business. She wasn’t a kid any longer, and her parents were allowed to do what they wanted with their lives, but…separation?

“You’ve always been the glue that held us together, darling. I’m very much afraid we can’t do it without you, and I can’t bear the thought of having to sit opposite your father on Christmas morning and not know what to say.”

Suzanne blinked. What the hell? She’d been the glue? That couldn’t be true, surely. But her mother sounded so…empty, so…lost, it was like a knife twisting in her heart. Whatever nonsense was going on with her parents, it wasn’t just some flash in the pan.

It was serious.

“Mom…” Suzanne didn’t know want to say. Her mother was always so authoritative, she wasn’t used to her sounding so small and helpless. “I’ll come home for Christmas.” Even as Suzanne said it, a ball of disappointment pulled tight in her gut. She’d been so looking forward to spending the day with Winona and the others at the boardinghouse. But there’d be other Christmases. “I’ll see what flights are available and call you back.”

“No.” Her mother’s voice went from soft to stridently vehement. “Absolutely not, darling. Of course you must spend your first Christmas with your rancher boyfriend. I absolutely insist.”

“Mom…” Suzanne sighed. “It’s fine. I’m sure he”—my fake rancher boyfriend—“can do without me for a few days.” Suzanne was pretty damn sure Joshua Grady would throw a party the day she left. “I’ll spend next Christmas with him.”

“I insist,” her mother continued. “Besides, I think it’ll do your father and me good to get out of our old routine, out of our comfort zone. I am set in my ways over certain things, and I think that’s starting to frustrate your dad, so we need a shake-up. While I wish Winona had decided to go to the Caribbean, eastern Colorado will do just fine. A change of scenery and some time away from New York is just what we need right now.”

Suzanne knew her mother was making sense. It was the kind of couple’s therapy a shrink might suggest, and had she not just fabricated a whole life here that didn’t exist, Suzanne would be all for it.