\u201cAre you absolutely certain?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at Sophia.<\/p>\n
She was still clutching the paper necklace she had made for her father. A little glitter had rubbed onto her cheeks. She kept looking toward the elevators, waiting for the doors to open so she could run into Dominic\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n
My chest ached.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been more certain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victor did not ask another question.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll right.\u201d<\/p>\n
His voice became all business.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me ten minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The call ended.<\/p>\n
Chloe laughed openly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell? Did your ride cancel?\u201d<\/p>\n
I slipped the phone back into my purse.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m impressed,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re taking this better than I expected.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI usually do.\u201d<\/p>\n
She frowned slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means I never make important decisions while emotional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around us, guests continued entering the grand hotel ballroom. Crystal chandeliers reflected across polished marble floors while photographers greeted executives arriving with their spouses.<\/p>\n
Sophia looked up at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cMommy\u2026 are we still seeing Daddy?\u201d<\/p>\n
I knelt beside her.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, sweetheart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVery soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
She smiled again.<\/p>\n
Children recover hope so easily.<\/p>\n
Adults forget how.<\/p>\n
Just then the elevator doors opened.<\/p>\n
Dominic stepped out wearing a perfectly tailored black tuxedo.<\/p>\n
He looked exactly the way he had on our wedding day.<\/p>\n
Confident.<\/p>\n
Handsome.<\/p>\n
Completely unaware his life was about to change.<\/p>\n
His left arm rested comfortably around a beautiful woman in an emerald evening gown.<\/p>\n
With his right hand, he held the shoulder of a little boy no older than seven.<\/p>\n
The boy laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad, hurry!\u201d<\/p>\n
Dad.<\/p>\n
The word echoed through the hotel lobby.<\/p>\n
Sophia heard it too.<\/p>\n
Her little fingers slowly loosened around the paper necklace.<\/p>\n
Dominic finally looked toward us.<\/p>\n
His smile disappeared.<\/p>\n
For a second, pure panic crossed his face.<\/p>\n
Then it vanished beneath practiced confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cVivienne\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman beside him looked between us.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know her?\u201d<\/p>\n
Dominic hesitated.<\/p>\n
Only for a heartbeat.<\/p>\n
But that heartbeat told me everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
He forced a laugh.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe used to help with some community outreach projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Used to.<\/p>\n
Not my wife.<\/p>\n
Not Sophia\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
Just someone convenient to erase.<\/p>\n
Sophia took one uncertain step forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cDaddy?\u201d<\/p>\n
Every conversation in the lobby stopped.<\/p>\n
The little boy beside Dominic looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cDad\u2026 who\u2019s she?\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman in the emerald dress frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cDominic?\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked trapped.<\/p>\n
Then he made the worst decision of his life.<\/p>\n
He placed a protective arm around the woman beside him.<\/p>\n
\u201cSophia,\u201d he said carefully, \u201cthis isn\u2019t a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The necklace slipped from my daughter\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
It landed on the marble floor.<\/p>\n
Nobody moved.<\/p>\n
Nobody spoke.<\/p>\n
The paper hearts she had glued on that afternoon scattered across the polished tiles.<\/p>\n
She stared at them silently.<\/p>\n
Children don\u2019t always cry immediately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cAre you absolutely certain?\u201d I looked at Sophia. She was still clutching the paper necklace she had made for her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=820"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822,"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820\/revisions\/822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mealtips.delicedcook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}