“Oh, fuck,” her brother says, standing up. “Please tell me you’re not involved in some underground Fifty Shades of kinky fuckery.”

My eyes go wide and I look away.

“Of course not, you asshole. It’s just—” She looks at me, then her brother and then back to me. “Grace, it’s just his wife, she… she couldn’t conceive. So they asked me to be their surrogate, and I agreed. They gave me that house in Park Hill. They set me up with health insurance. They paid me a lot of money. But then… after the pregnancy was confirmed, Mrs. Blazen changed her mind. She said I had to get an abortion. She couldn’t raise another woman’s child and pretend it was her own.”

“Oh, shit.”

“I refused, obviously. And Johnny refused as well. And that’s why they got divorced. I never slept with him. I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks, but the NDA was technically still in place, and I wasn’t allowed to talk about it.”

“They were gonna hide it? Fake everyone out and pretend Mrs. Blazen was the birth mother?”

Kristi nods and then looks over at her brother. “She didn’t want anyone to know it wasn’t her child. She didn’t want anyone to know I was the real mother. And now she doesn’t want anyone to know what a heartless cunt she is after I said no to the abortion. And Johnny has been so great about the whole thing. He said… he said he wanted to give parenting a try. Together, you know? And God, he’s so handsome. And sweet, Grace. He’s so perfect. That’s why I got so mad at you last night.”

I am a grade-A asshole. I feel so fucking stupid right now—even worse than I did earlier. Her relationship with Johnny Blazen really is a fantasy. It’s beautiful and filled with trust and love. And I am just some jealous bitch who can’t even keep a man, so I had to fuck it up for her by filling her head with stupidity. “I’m so sorry for telling you all those terrible things last night, Kristi.”

She gives me a sad smile. “It’s OK, Grace. I needed this time, I think. I just needed to take a step back from the situation and tell someone about it. That NDA was killing me. And now that I’ve said it out loud, I can start to make sense of my feelings. Do I really love him? I don’t know. Maybe I only love the baby?”

“But obviously he loves the baby too or he wouldn’t be going through all this.”

“True,” she says, her head bowed as she stares down at her stomach. “I just don’t want the baby to be the only reason, you know?” She looks up at me and I do know. Because that’s exactly how I feel about Vaughn. I don’t want him to want me just because we have this stupid arrangement where I let him dominate me sexually. “I want Johnny to love me for me.”

“Why don’t you just ask him?”

We both look over at Jack.

“I mean, it’s not a fucking puzzle. OK? You take the guy aside and tell him what you just told us and see what he says. If he doesn’t give you the answer you’re looking for, well—” Jack throws up his hands. “Ditch him. Life’s too short to settle for less than love, Krissy.”

“But what if he doesn’t love me and only wants the baby?”

“Then it’s better to know. So you can move on. Get the custody worked out and find a guy who does love you.”

Kristi wipes her tears and nods. “I’m sorry, Jack. I truly am sorry that I put myself first when I took that money out of the accounts. But I’m not that person anymore. I want to be this person now. And I want you guys to be a part of it.”

Jack gets up and walks around the table to his sister. He pulls her to her feet and gives her a big brotherly hug. “Mom and Dad are in France, so they can’t be here even if they wanted to. But if you decide to get married, Kris, I’ll be there.”

Kristi sobs, but she’s cradled in his protective embrace. “I need some time to think. And then maybe I’ll call Johnny tomorrow and talk things through with him.”

I watch them as they put their broken relationship back together and wish, more than anything, that I could do the same for mine. But my family is gone and no amount of making good will ever bring them back.

Kristi gets up and excuses herself to the restroom and that leaves me alone with Jack. He’s staring at me and I’m not sure what to do. “Um, sorry for barging in on your family time.”

“So what’s your story?” he asks. “You look worse than her.” He jacks his thumb towards the restrooms on the other side of the empty cafe.

I scan the room and find a large TV mounted on a wall. “If you turn that one to the Buzz Hollywood channel, you’ll see.”

He raises one eyebrow at me. “Buzz Hollywood? Really? You’re some bigshot actor in a bit of Vegas double?”

I laugh, but it’s not funny. “No. I’m—well, I was—sorta dating…” I sigh. There’s just no good way to explain this to a stranger. “Just turn the TV on.”

“OK,” he says as he gets up and walks behind the counter. A few seconds later the TV comes to life and he does a search for Buzz Hollywood. As soon as the channel comes up, there’s my face. Up on the airwaves for everyone to see.

“Grace!” the voice yells on the TV. Then it shows me making a mad dash to Kristi’s waiting Mercedes.

I sit in silence as the whole scene unfolds for Jack. After a few minutes he’s got the gist of it and mutes the sound. “Well, that sucks.”

I nod. “Yeah.”

Kristi is back from the restroom now and she reaches over and squeezes my arm in support.

“You wanna tell us what happened?” Jack asks.

I swallow hard. “I met Vaughn Asher on Saint Thomas and he—”

“No,” Jack interrupts. “Fuck Asher. What happened to you back then? That’s what they’re interested in. Not that actor. I remember that story. Your story,” he corrects. “I remember you going missing. I remember thinking, fuck, she’s probably dead by now. And I remember you coming back. The whole country was stunned. I was working in here that day, actually, and the whole place went silent. People were crying. And then they charged you with murder.”

My throat is closing up and suddenly I can’t swallow. My face becomes hot and prickly and the tears spring forth. They are running down my face before I can even blink. And the funny part—the thing that always gets me, makes me sadder than anything else—is hearing how people felt when they found out I was alive.