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My mind keeps trying to drift toward Levi.

Toward Theo.

Toward a life I let myself imagine for one reckless, humiliating moment.

I shut it down every time. I can’t go there. Not right now. If I let myself think about any of it properly, I’m afraid I’ll fall apart completely.

So I don’t.

“Finally!” Grace’s voice cuts through the quiet courtyard.

I look up, shocked, as she and Drew walk toward me.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Grace says, pulling me into a fierce hug before I can stand. “Why was your phone off? Finn finally cracked and told us where you were hiding.”

“Oh my god,” I breathe, hugging her back tightly. “Look at you.”

Drew lingers a step behind her. The second I glance at him, my stomach twists. It isn’t fair, but all I can see is Levi. That same stillness.

I look away quickly.

Drew seems to understand, because he doesn’t try to hug me. He stays a distance.

We move inside the small motel room. Grace and Drew take the worn two-seater couch while I perch on the edge of the bed, arms wrapped around myself.

“Why are you here?” I ask. “I thought you had to stay away.”

“Coast is clear now,” Drew says. “We’re back.”

I stare at the threadbare carpet, still unable to meet his eyes.

Grace leans forward, her expression softening. “It’s going to be so good having you close when the baby comes.”

Her words hit me somewhere tender and painful at the same time.

“I don’t know if I can even stay here now,” I say. “In Alton Hills, I mean. It’s too expensive, and I can’t keep relying on Finn forever.”

Without the divorce settlement, things are going to be hard. Not uncomfortable or inconvenient. Hard. The kind of hard I haven’t had to think about in thirty years, which makes the shame worse somehow. I spent so long saying I didn’t care about Maverick’s money that I forgot what it meant to have none of my own.

Grace and Drew exchange a quick look.

“What?” I ask.

Grace bites her lip, then nudges Drew with her elbow.

He exhales like this is not the part of the visit he wants to be responsible for, then reaches into his jacket and pulls out a folded piece of paper.

He holds it out to me.

“What is that?”

“Just take it,” Drew says.

Grace gives him a look.

He corrects himself, slightly. “Please.”

My fingers are unsteady as I unfold it. For a second, the numbers don’t make sense. Then they do. It’s a check.