Chapter 1

On our seventh wedding anniversary, a piece of news blew up every trending feed.

“A newly discovered star has just been officially named Bella.”

Hot on its heels came a post from my own husband, Blake.

“Your name on a star. Even out there in the universe, you are never alone.”

And under it, Bella, the junior he'd taken under his wing at work, left her reply: “Thank you for making our private romance public, Blake! I'm so happy!”

A younger me would have blown up his phone, screaming for an explanation.

Not tonight.

After seven years of fighting for Blake, I was finally letting go.

Chapter 1

“Mia, I've decided to take the post at the Paris office.”

Before the words even settled, my best friend and business partner, Mia, jumped on them.

“Wait, you're serious? You can really leave your precious Blake?” she asked, half sure I was joking. “If you're back here whining in two days, I'll stab you myself.”

My lips curved.

“I'm not joking.”

Thinking about what I'd seen tonight, my voice came out hard. “I mean it this time. If I bail halfway again, you can take my head.”

Three years ago, our company needed someone to open a new market in another city.

I talked it over with Blake first. He had no objections, so I volunteered for the assignment.

I made it three days before he landed in the hospital with a stomach attack.

I caught a red-eye home that same night to take care of him.

And after that, I stayed at headquarters for good.

Blake and I had dated for five years and been married for seven.

I'd known since high school that once he buried himself in something, he forgot food and sleep.

A long-distance assignment meant barely seeing each other all year.

And I could never stand leaving him alone.

After we got married, friends kept asking me how I'd ended up with a man who had so little ambition.

They all said Blake was boyfriend material, not husband material.

I always smiled and told them the truth: “Because he saved me. My body and my soul.”

My messed-up family had driven me into depression.

At my lowest, when I was ready to sink to the bottom of the sea and stay there, Blake dove in and pulled me out.

After that, he took me to one therapist appointment after another, in rain and shine.

Once I was doing better, I asked him, “Weren't you scared back then? You were so young.”

He waved a hand like it was nothing. “I couldn't stand the thought of someone with a smile that pretty leaving this world.”

“And the future is long. I want to keep seeing it with you, smiling.”

To the girl I was back then, those words were the most beautiful sound on earth.

I really believed that a man as good as Blake and I would walk through the rest of our lives together.

Too bad fantasies are always beautiful.

And reality is always cruel.

Today was supposed to be our seventh wedding anniversary.

I'd booked the restaurant where he proposed to me.

I'd arranged fireworks, planning to surprise him.

I'd even left work early and waited at the gate of his observatory.

I never got the man.

What I got instead was that trending news.

“A newly discovered star, catalogued as 960306, has been officially named this morning, the Bella Star.”

“This is the first star astronomer Blake has ever discovered, so it carries real sentimental value.”

The top post under that news was Blake's.

“Your name on a star. Even out there in the universe, you are never alone.”

The photo showed him cheek-to-cheek with Bella at a fancy restaurant.

Bella held the star certificate up like a trophy.

The most-liked comment was hers.

“Thank you for making our private romance public, Blake! I'm so happy!”

I can't even describe what I felt when I saw it.

It was like falling into a bottomless pit. Total darkness, no light anywhere ahead.

No matter how I struggled, nothing helped. I just kept sinking.

And I remember thinking that the man who'd once saved me probably never imagined he'd one day be the reason my depression came crawling back.

So here's the thing. Life was never a multiple-choice test.

And I was never his fixed answer.

Just as the tears were about to spill, I turned off my screen and blinked the burning ache away.

I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat and drove to the restaurant I'd booked.

Alone under a sky full of fireworks, I ate two whole steaks.

It was my funeral for nearly seven years of marriage.

“Iris, I'll book you an apartment in Paris. Leaving Monday, okay?” Mia probed when I stayed silent too long. “Today's Monday, so you've got a whole week to get ready.”

I almost laughed out loud.

I knew exactly what she was doing.

Mia had watched Blake and me from the very beginning, so of course she'd picked up that something was off with me.

Seven days.

Enough time to hand over my work back home.

And more than enough time to say goodbye to Blake, and to over a decade of my youth.

“Okay.”

I whispered it at the moonlight outside the window.

That answer told Mia everything she needed to know.

She was sure now: something between Blake and me was broken.

She didn't know what, but she knew nothing small could do this to me.

So she thought for a long time and spoke in her knowing way.

“The world is huge. It's full of good food and interesting people. If you're willing to keep walking forward, the future is worth looking forward to.”

“Tomorrow is July first. Everything starts fresh.”

“The Paris office goes live in a week. And listen, girl: lose the man, keep the money!”

A night breeze rattled the curtains on the balcony.

I fished a pack of cigarettes out of my bag and stepped outside.

Looking up at the bright moon, I sparked one.

The lighter clicked, loud in the still night.

I blew out a ring of smoke and watched it scatter.

And then everything from today came crashing back.

My heart twisted, hard.

In that moment, I finally made my choice.

“Mia, you're right. Lose the man, keep the money.”

After I hung up, I talked to the moon like it could hear me.