When she was done, she grinned at me.
“It’s perfect. Iris will love it.”
Chloe picked up her cup, popped it on a saucer, adding some marshmallows on the side. Then she carried it back to the table.
I didn’t follow her. Instead, I made my way to the couple who’d just got engaged and offered a few quiet words. Not something I normally did, but tonight, it felt right.
What the hell was wrong with me?
I let out a long breath. I knew exactly what, orwho.
Chloe
I looked over at our table. She’d shifted down to sit beside Sophie, gently combing her fingers through the ends of my daughter’s dark hair as she slept. Her face was alive with laughter.
At the sight, something warm bloomed in me. This was a glimpse into a potential life.
Chloe was all the warmth and energy I’d been missing. All the goodness Sophie had never known. People lit up around her—welit up around her.
Even the kitten on Sophie’s lap seemed to know it, circling once before curling back into sleep. Chloe smiled down at the two of them, and the glow in her face made my heart ache.
I blinked into the breeze coming off the sea. I was on the edge of wanting it all.
Wanting everything I’d always run from.
Someone I could love without fear. Someone who could love me without wielding leverage over me, without controlling me.
I closed my eyes, listening to the pulse of the sea.
I finally had a chance at happiness. Did I dare take it?
26
CHLOE
Ipaced around the annex like a madwoman. Bean’s calming influence was missing tonight. Now that Maxime had said he was Sophie’s cat—right about the time his tattoos made an appearance through his wet shirt at the club—he’d allowed the kitten to sleep in Sophie’s room.
As a result, life in the annex had become lonely.
After slipping off my dress and pulling on a tanktop, I moved into the little bathroom to take my makeup off. I glared at my reflection. My eyes were enormous, wild even, and little pink patches covered my cheeks like a rag doll. I may have had a little too much champagne, but that alone couldn’t account for the glow.
I sighed, closing my hands around the lip of the washbowl. It’d been quite an evening.
Iris’s news had been a surprise. Not a bad one. I always knew she’d end up happy with Luc, surrounded by gaggles of children. But what I’d told Maxime was true.
The thought of being left behind terrified me.
My friends left shortly after my stork delivery. By that point, Iris was on the edge of sleep. She’d joked that according to herpregnancy app, her body was busy creating fingernails, so she needed to get to bed. I smiled. It was just like her.
Luc had some business to attend to while in the area, so we agreed everyone would come for brunch before leaving the day after next. I hoped Maxime wouldn’t mind another visit from his investor.
I let out a slow breath.Maxime.
Once we left the club, we slowly climbed the stairs back to the villa. Honestly, it’d felt like the manufacturer had made my wedges out of concrete. It wasn’t because I was tired. Weeks of climbing the steps daily had conditioned my thighs perfectly. It was more my awareness of his presence that’d coated my legs in go-slow juice.
Maxime climbed first, Sophie keeping up with him, Bean draped over one shoulder. As we ascended, all I could focus on was his broad back and the shine of his hair whenever we passed a house or one of the little lanterns lighting the way.
Maybe it was the climb, or the dark, or the way he’d looked at me—but I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I’d told him. How much I’d revealed about my fears
