She abruptly set down the iron and immediately rushed over to him. But unlike in Japan, her face hadn’t lit up at the sight of him. Just the opposite. Her expression was upset and wary as she approached. As if she was walking up to a monster.

“What are you doing here?” she signed when she reached him.

She didn’t speak out loud, most likely because she didn’t want questions from her co-workers. She signed carefully in front of her body, blocking the sight of her hands from the children. They watched her and Victor avidly in the background and appeared primed to burst into another made-up song.

“Where is your ring?” Victor signed back.

“I took it off,” she answered, her expression tight. “A few months ago, when I didn’t hear a word from you.”

Was she irritated by his long absence or his sudden reappearance? He couldn’t tell.

Either way…

“Put your ring back on,” he commanded. “And do not take it off again.”

She didn’t acknowledge the command as she should have, considering the circumstances. Instead, she asked again, “What are you doing here?”

Victor signed back two words. Harsh and precise. “Happy Anniversary.”

Her eyes flared with the realization that they had stood before the judge in that town hall exactly one year ago.

Annoyance twisted Victor’s insides. He wished he’d been able to forget the date so easily.

He’d spent the last twelve months trying not to think of her. Telling himself that it was enough to leave her to rot.

That morning, he’d woken up optimistic. He’d deliberately packed the day with meetings in New York. And he’d dared to hope that their first anniversary would pass quickly without him even thinking about driving down to Rhode Island.

But he only made it to the afternoon before his willpower gave out. And now, here he stood across from her while Han handled the rest of his New York meetings.

“Why did you come here?” Dawn asked, her expression genuinely confused. “Why didn’t you wait for me at the house?”

That was a good question. Too good.

“I don’t wait,” he answered instead of telling her the truth—that he hadn’t been able to wait. That he was so obsessed with her, he had decided to come to her place of work when he found the house empty.

Speaking of which…

“Tell your co-workers you are leaving early.”

Her eyes widened. “I still have an hour left on my shift.”

He ground his teeth. She still didn’t seem to know her place with him. “Would you rather I write her a note? Tell her that your owner has arrived to fuck you?”

Dawn shot him a mutinous look. But in the end, she went over to the older black lady Victor had given his name to earlier.

“Marge, I’m so sorry, but I’ve got to leave early…”