She was turning forty, her company was worth thirty million dollars, she was "happily married" (a stretch, but they weren't getting divorced yet, so that was something), she had four gorgeous children (counting Sam, which she always did), and it was time to celebrate in this fabulous new house that she had bought fully furnished just two months ago. It was going to be grand. Everyone who was everyone, everyone who mattered in her life, was going to be there tonight. Her phone buzzed with a text. Talk about a blast from the past. From before. Before she was Ellie de Florent-Stinson. Before she was herself, really. Happy birthday, girl. The text came with a photo-taken twenty-four years ago. Sweet Sixteen, sigh. Could it really have been twenty-four years ago that she had been that young girl in that picture? There she was, in all her glory. Her hair all over her face, her smile, wary instead of megawatt, her clothes, cheap and ill-fitting. Another text: See you tonight. A promise or a threat? Was she feeling butterflies or tasting bile? She looked at him in the photo, standing next to her, so handsome and so young. It was her fortieth birthday. All the important people in her life would be there. Including him.

ISBN: 9781524743772