She kissed my cheek before leaving.

I stood alone again, mentally running through decorations, food, shopping, and everything else I needed to organize while pretending my heart wasn’t breaking.

First, I had to invite Jordan.

I texted him.

“Ethan wants the whole family there.”

Not long afterward, my phone buzzed.

Jordan.

Even seeing his name made my stomach tighten.

His reply was short.

Cold.

I read it several times before the meaning fully settled in.

My chest tightened.

I set my phone beside the counter and stared toward the swimming pool, struggling to breathe.

“Mom, are you okay?”

Ethan stood in the doorway, his wet hair dripping onto his T-shirt.

I smiled for his sake.

He looked at me longer than I wanted.

Then he quietly returned outside.

That look broke something inside me.

I couldn’t let Jordan arrive with Percy and make me look like the abandoned wife in front of my children and every neighbor who had watched our family grow over two decades.

I opened my laptop.

For the first time in my life, I searched for a fake boyfriend.

A talent agency downtown answered within the hour.

The woman sounded completely professional.

As though hiring someone to pretend to love you happened every day.

“Just for a few hours,” I explained. “He doesn’t have to do much. Just stand beside me. Smile.”

“Of course. He’ll play whatever role you need.”

After hanging up, I rested both hands on the kitchen counter.

Somehow I had become a woman paying a stranger to make it look as though she was still wanted.