“I don’t—”

“Save it. You don’t love me, and I don’t think you care about me, either. That’s a tough pill for me to swallow, but I will. So please go. Having you here like this won’t help me get better.”

“You don’t love Mama?” Caleb’s small voice came from the edge of the kitchen. His big brown eyes were full of tears.

Gretchen’s anger turned to guilt and regret immediately. “Oh…”

“I guess you also forgot how kids hear everything,” Jax said before rushing to Caleb. She knelt in front of him. “Of course I do, Cricket.”

“Mama said you don’t.”

“That’s not what Mama meant.”

Gretchen watched the exchange in horror. She backed out of the room, unable to listen as Jax scrambled to clean up her mess. She walked to her bedroom, bags of new clothing forgotten. She pulled out her phone and opened her messages to Amanda.

I hope you’re ready to be roommates again. I’ll explain more tomorrow.

Chapter Eighteen

31 days, 14 hours, 12 minutes

Nearly a week passed, and Jax didn’t leave, but Gretchen had stopped expecting things from her. She relied heavily on Amanda for what she couldn’t do herself. Every day she felt stronger physically. Her pain was nearly gone, and the lingering fuzz in her head was gone. She felt more like herself, whoever that was. She had been in touch with her boss and explained the details of her current situation to him. The better she felt, the more eager she was to get back to work. Gretchen craved normalcy. She was happy to know Omar would hold her position for as long as necessary, and all her clients were in good hands. She missed helping people and everything that went into occupational therapy, even the paperwork. The moment Dr. Melendez cleared her for work, she’d run back to the office. But for now, she was a prisoner.

She stared out her window and watched the naked trees sway in blustery wind. She was about to spend Valentine’s Day with her doctor and sister. Oh, how life had changed. She watched a cyclone of dead leaves grow higher and higher as she thought back to the last Valentine’s Day she could remember.

She and Jax managed a romantic dinner at a local Thai place. They had left Caleb with their new nanny, Meredith. They spent a lovely evening together, eating and laughing. Jax talked about how jealous she was that Caleb was a summer baby, unlike her, and how she planned to do everything with Caleb over the summer, including throwing pool parties in the pool they didn’t have. Later that night, after staring at their slumbering infant for an embarrassingly long time, they climbed into bed together and fell asleep immediately. Jax woke her in the middle of the night with pleasurable touches and promises of love and forever.

“Are you ready to go?” Jax’s sudden words caused Gretchen to jump, and she spilled coffee down her front. “Sorry.”