10. The Funeral

Two years doesn’t dull the pain of seeing your ex-husband and ex-best friend at your father’s funeral with two children. Two, healthy human children with rosy cheeks and beautiful smiles. Isabel walks up to me, her black dress flowing behind her and I’m glad she doesn’t bother with the pretense of grief. She never liked my father.

“Scarlett,” she says, matter-of-factedly. “I am deeply sorry for your loss.”

Cameras flash, and I merely stare outside, at the absurd amount of flowers by the corner of the door. If only they knew how much father detested flowers in his house.

When I don’t respond, she speaks again, “I’ve been trying to…reach out to you for a time. You just disappeared. I wanted to—”

“Apologize for trying to kill me?” I angle my head in her direction. Something flickers in her hazel eyes as she watches me and she seems to hold the infant in her hands tighter. “Apologize for fucking my husband and stealing my life?”

“Xan was never—”

“Mine?” I stare behind her and I see Alexa