CHAPTER 1 — THE WOMAN ABOVE THE TERMINAL
Daniel’s face changed the moment he saw me.
One second, he was laughing with the blonde woman beside him.
The next, every trace of color disappeared from his skin.
I stood on the second-floor balcony of Chicago O’Hare, holding my phone against my ear while his name still glowed across the screen.
Neither of us spoke.
We didn’t need to.
Daniel slowly lowered his phone.
The woman beside him followed his stare and looked up at me. His father, Richard, turned next. Then Lauren. Then the children.
Ethan was sixteen now. Sophie was thirteen.
I had helped raise them since they were four and one.
I had stayed awake through fevers, school projects, nightmares, and broken hearts. I had packed their lunches, attended their concerts, and defended them whenever Daniel missed another family event because of “work.”
Now they stood beside the woman replacing me.
Sophie’s eyes widened.
“Rachel?”
Her voice carried through the terminal.
Daniel immediately released the blonde woman’s waist.
“Rachel, wait.”
I walked toward the escalator.
My legs felt strangely steady.
I expected to collapse. I expected to scream or cry.
Instead, I felt as if I were walking toward strangers.
By the time I reached Gate 42, Daniel had arranged his expression into the concerned look he used whenever he wanted to control a difficult conversation.
“What are you doing here?” he whispered.
I looked at him.
“That’s an interesting question coming from a man performing emergency surgery.”
Richard stepped forward.
“This isn’t the place for a scene.”
I turned toward him.
“You’re right. A hospital would have been more appropriate.”
Lauren lowered her eyes.
The blonde woman took a step away from Daniel.
“Daniel,” she said quietly. “Who is this?”
He hesitated.
That hesitation told me everything.
I extended my hand toward her.
“Rachel Bennett. His wife.”
Her face went blank.
“No.”
Daniel reached for her.
“Olivia, let me explain.”
She pulled away.
“You said she wasn’t coming.”
I stared at her.
“Wasn’t coming where?”
Olivia looked between us.
“To our engagement trip.”
The words struck harder than the kiss.
Daniel grabbed her arm.
“Stop talking.”
Olivia shook him off.
“You told me your marriage had been over for years.”
“It is,” Daniel said.
I laughed once.
It sounded cold even to me.
“That’s strange. We had dinner together three nights ago. You gave me flowers and asked whether I wanted to renew our vows next spring.”
Ethan stared at his father.
“You told us Rachel refused to come.”
Daniel looked at him sharply.
“This is complicated.”
“No,” I said. “It’s actually very simple.”
The gate agent announced that boarding would begin in ten minutes.
Around us, travelers pretended not to listen.
I looked at the matching suitcases, the passports and the expensive first-class tickets.
Then I noticed the tags attached to Daniel and Olivia’s luggage.
MR. AND MRS. BENNETT.
Olivia saw them too.
Her lips parted.
“You said the divorce was finalized.”
Daniel didn’t answer.
I reached for my phone and photographed the tags.
Then I looked directly at my husband.
“Enjoy your trip.”
He blinked.
“You’re leaving?”
“I’m giving you exactly what you wanted.”
I turned away.
Daniel caught my wrist.
“Rachel, don’t do anything irrational.”
I looked down at his hand until he released me.
“Irrational?”
My voice remained quiet.
“You used my anniversary gift while kissing another woman. You brought the children I raised on an engagement trip and told them I refused to come. You lied about a dying patient while standing twenty feet below me.”
I stepped closer.
“You have no idea how rational I’m about to become.”
I walked away as boarding began behind me.
Before reaching the escalator, I heard Olivia call my name.
When I turned, she was standing alone.
Daniel and his family had moved toward the gate.
Olivia held up her phone.
“There’s something you need to see.”
On her screen was a photograph of a legal document.
A divorce decree.
My name was printed across the top.
May you like
And beneath it was a signature that looked exactly like mine.
Except I had never signed it.
