Page 20 of Triplet Babies for my Ex's Best Friend

My stomach drops in the most ridiculous way.

The man from the plane.

I stare at the image for too long. At the stranger who kissed me like he meant it. Like I was worth wanting instead of just a mess to discard.

My whole body warms with the memory before I can stop it. His voice, his hand at my jaw, the low certainty of him.

Then the immediate need I’d let myself fall into afterward because I was hurt and reckless and furious and maybe wanted one thing, just one, to belong only to me and not to Bryce’s destruction.

I press my lips together.

Well…

That happened, and it was insane, and I’m definitely not going to sit here romanticizing a man whose name I don’t know and whose entire role in my life was “disturbingly hot emotional spiral.”

Still, the memory remains.

I lock my phone and toss it onto the bed.

“Focus,” I tell myself.

Because what am I going to do, hunt down a stranger from a plane? Ask the airline for the seating chart?

Absolutely not.

I need a job, not a relapse into bad decisions.

I get up, wash my face, and sit down with my laptop one more time to check my email.

There are two automated confirmations.

One polite rejection.

And then…

One real response.

I blink.

Open it.

My pulse starts to climb.

It’s from the agency attached to the live-in position.

Thank you for your application, Adeline. Your experience appears to be a strong match for a family currently seeking immediate placement. We would like to schedule an initial screening call tomorrow morning, followed by an in-person interview if suitable.

CHAPTER FOUR

Ethan

By the fourth interview,it’s already clear this is a waste of time. A waste of my damn office.

I don’t let it show.

That’s the difference between knowing this and reacting to it.

Across from me, the woman finishes answering a question about routine structuring with the kind of confidence that reads well on paper and poorly in practice. Her résumé was strong, excellent even, but there’s something missing, something that doesn’t translate through qualifications, references, or carefully rehearsed answers.