Chapter 4

He hurried over, but one hand was still holding tight to Mia's.

His free left hand didn't even reach out to take Joy from my arms.

"You've been discharged? Didn't we agree I'd drive over and pick you up?"

I looked at him coolly.

"No need."

"Didn't you say Vanessa doesn't know anything about cars and you were afraid the dealership would rip her off, so you had to help her test-drive and pick up her new car? All done?"

Ethan frowned, a note of impatience in his voice.

"I texted you my whole schedule ahead of time. What are you throwing a fit about now? She's raising a kid on her own. It's not easy. Something as big as buying a car, how could she do that without someone looking out for her..."

I cut him off coldly.

"And me leaving the hospital alone with a newborn, that was easy?"

Ethan was about to say something else when Vanessa walked over.

She was especially dressed up today. She gave me an apologetic smile.

"Nora, I'm so sorry you've had such a hard time lately."

"We were going to go out for Italian tonight to celebrate my new car. Since we ran into you, why don't you join us?"

Half an hour later, we were sitting in an upscale Italian restaurant nearby, at a table by the floor-to-ceiling windows facing the street.

Every dish the waiter brought out was something Vanessa and Mia liked.

Ethan never even handed me the menu.

He was busy cutting the steak on Mia's plate into little pieces, practiced and patient.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow at me, taunting.

"Ethan's such a great dad, isn't he? Mia can hardly live without him."

The whole meal, I was scrambling to soothe Joy while she fussed and cried, feeding her and burping her.

I didn't take a single sip of my water, let alone order anything.

When Vanessa finished her last bite of dessert, I was just reaching for the menu to call the waiter over.

Suddenly Ethan said, "Okay, let's go."

I froze.

"Why haven't you ordered yet? We've been sitting here forever."

I looked at him quietly. At the way his face said this was perfectly reasonable.

"Ethan, I was just—"

Before I could finish, there was a horrible, ear-splitting screech of tires out on the street.

No warning. No reason.

Afterward, the police investigation found the driver had been high.

Bang!

A dark gray sedan, completely out of control, jumped the curb like a steel beast and smashed straight through the restaurant's front windows!

Broken glass rained down on us, along with splinters and a cloud of dust.

The front of the car was wedged halfway into the wall. Every airbag had gone off.

In one second, the whole restaurant fell into hellish chaos.

The screams nearly took the roof off.

No one knew what had happened. People thought it was some kind of terrorist attack. They leapt up from their seats like mad and shoved one another, rushing for the emergency exits.

On instinct, I bent and scooped up Joy, about to shout for Ethan to protect the baby.

But when I looked up again, the seat in front of me was empty.

Ethan hadn't hesitated for even a second. He'd clutched Mia tight against his chest, grabbed Vanessa with his other hand, and the three of them had shoved their way through the crowd toward the back door like mad.

He didn't even look back at Joy and me.

Holding Joy, I was swept along by the crowd.

Someone shoved me hard from behind. I lost my balance and fell hard onto the glass-covered floor.

I held Joy tight against my chest while countless feet trampled over my back and my hands as people ran.

The pain was unbearable.

But in that moment, even covered in wounds, nothing hurt as much as the cold in my heart.

The chaos really only lasted ten-odd minutes.

Sirens soon surrounded the scene. Police and firefighters rushed in to get people out.

The driver was carried out on a stretcher, his face covered in blood.

The street was packed with people still in shock.

Holding Joy, I limped to the corner, shaking all over.

Only after Ethan had gotten Vanessa and Mia somewhere safe a few blocks away did he seem to snap out of it and turn back to look for Nora.

But by then, the police had taped off the whole street outside the restaurant with yellow tape, and the crowd had long since cleared.

Standing outside the tape, Ethan let out a breath and thought: it's probably fine. Nora must have gotten out on her own.

He called Nora's phone, but no one answered.

For a moment, Ethan's heart sank.

Nora always kept her phone on for him. She always picked up, no matter what. What was going on today?

He pushed down his panic and decided to get Vanessa and Mia, who were both crying in terror, home first.

But once they got to Vanessa's, Mia clung to his shirt and wouldn't let him leave.

So Ethan sent Nora a text with a detailed rundown of where he was.

But no reply ever came.

The next morning, Ethan bought two hot coffees and two bacon-and-egg sandwiches at his favorite breakfast place and went home.

When he pushed open the door, the house was strangely cold and empty.

He called out, "Nora." No answer.

He opened his mouth to call the baby's name, and suddenly realized he hadn't even given his own daughter a name.

He was about to set the paper bag down on the table when he froze.

He started trembling uncontrollably. Every bit of color drained from his face.

He stared at the stack of papers on the dining table, weighed down by a mug, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

On top was a signed divorce agreement.