After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 02

After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 02

Noah answered without hesitation.

“Of course, Sloane. I’ll always trust you.”

Sloane let out a soft laugh on the other end of the line, a sound that promised secrets. Then she hung up, leaving him in suspense. The guilt he’d felt over Ava evaporated, replaced by a burning curiosity. He had to see her, had to know what this “surprise” was.

But Sloane refused his suggestion to meet. She only sent a text, her words laced with an ambiguous sense of control.

“You should spend more time with Ava and Lily. There isn’t much time left, anyway.”

What did she mean, not much time left?

Noah frowned. The irritation returned. He had no time to ponder Sloane’s meaning. An invisible hand seemed to seize his heart, and the next thing he knew, he was grabbing the car keys from the entry table and rushing out the door.

From the moment he came home to the moment he left again, he didn’t even glance at the untouched plate of macarons in the living room.

Half an hour later, Noah returned, bringing the night’s chill with him. Ava and Lily were on the living room carpet, drawing. The little girl was curled in her mother’s arms, coloring the sun in her picture with a crayon. The domestic scene soothed his restlessness. He walked over and tried to wrap his arms around Ava from behind.

Ava’s body stiffened for a split second. Without making a scene, she turned slightly and pointed at the clock on the wall.

“Lily, it’s bedtime. You have school tomorrow.”

Noah’s hand froze awkwardly in midair. He watched Ava help Lily to her feet and take her into the bedroom. She never once looked at him.

Only after Ava settled their daughter and came back out did Noah step toward her, his voice softened with a practiced apology.

“Ava, I’m sorry about the hearing today.”

“Even if you’d remembered, would you have come?”

Ava’s question was a cold needle piercing his false tenderness.

For a moment, Noah had no answer.

The room was quiet for a long time before he explained in a low voice, “Sloane had a panic attack. A bad one. You know she’s struggled with this since she was a kid. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

But this was already the ninth time.

Ava counted silently. Self-mockery flickered in her eyes, but her voice was calm.

“Mm. There definitely won’t be a next time.”

After all, their divorce papers were already on the way.

The next morning, Noah got up unusually early. Just as he’d done countless times before to make up for a mistake, he made an elaborate breakfast himself: eggs Benedict with hollandaise, roasted asparagus, and freshly squeezed orange juice.

He carried the plates into the dining room, only to find the table empty.

Ava was dressed in a crisp cashmere set, car keys in hand, ready to leave.

“Ava, come have breakfast.” His voice held an unquestionable command.

“No, thank you. Lily and I already had cereal.” Ava’s tone was as flat as if she were discussing the weather. “I’m taking her to school.”

Her coldness gave him a sense of losing control that was entirely new to him. He strode forward and picked up his own trench coat.

“I’ll drive you.”

Ava couldn’t argue, so she agreed.

The moment she sat in Noah’s black Range Rover, Ava sensed something was wrong. She noticed at once that Lily’s favorite rainbow sticker, the one she had drawn herself and stuck on the back-seat window, was gone. In its place, clipped to the air vent, was a brand-new Diptyque car diffuser, filling the car with Sloane’s favorite tuberose scent.

Noah noticed her gaze and quickly explained, “Oh, that sticker… The guys at the car wash accidentally knocked it off the other day.”

Was that so?

Ava didn’t expose his clumsy lie. She only asked calmly, “Where is it, then? Lily loved that sticker. I want it back.”

Noah’s expression froze for an instant. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel.

“The worker… he threw it away. I’ll make them pay for it.”

Listening to him pile one lie on top of another, a weariness sank into her bones. Lily had spent an entire afternoon making that sticker, carefully adding glitter glue she treasured more than anything.

“If it was thrown away, then forget it,” she said softly, turning her gaze to the streets racing past the window. “I don’t want it anymore.”

Noah glanced at her, surprised. “You really don’t want it?”

Ava nodded lightly. “No.”

That sticker, this marriage, and him.

She didn’t want any of it anymore.

After dropping Lily off, Ava didn’t go home. She asked Noah to let her out at The Quin House in Back Bay. There was a Wellesley Boston alumnae gathering there today.

The moment she entered the club lounge, with its mahogany paneling, leather armchairs, and old-money elegance, she drew everyone’s attention.

“Ava, you finally made it! Why are you here alone? Is Whitaker Group keeping Noah that busy?” An alumna in a Chanel suit came up to greet her warmly.

Ava was about to invent an excuse when a pretty, familiar voice cut in from the center of the crowd.

“He has a board meeting at headquarters this morning until eleven,” Sloane said, elegantly swirling the champagne in her hand, as if she were the real Mrs. Whitaker. “This afternoon he’s meeting a venture capital partner in the Financial District, so he definitely won’t have time to keep Ava company.”

She rattled off Noah’s schedule as if he were her own husband.

Knowing smiles were exchanged around the room. Someone teased, “Childhood sweethearts really are on another level. You even know Noah’s private schedule inside and out.”