

Renee Rainsdorf had been with her lawyer boyfriend Owen Tadd for five years. He canceled their wedding fifty-two times—always for the same reason: his intern, Vanessa. The first time, he left Renee waiting alone on the beach all day. The second, he bolted mid-ceremony. After that, every wedding attempt was derailed by yet another "emergency" involving Vanessa. On the fifty-second try, Owen abandoned Renee yet again—this time for Vanessa's sprained ankle. That was the breaking point. Renee finally walked away, packed up, and left Ainsley for good. But the day she left, Owen frantically searched for her everywhere. Back in her hometown of Carverton, Renee rebuilt her life from scratch and rose to become a top lawyer. Owen, however, fell apart without her—his career collapsed, Vanessa bled him dry, and he ended up right back where he started. Five years later, Renee stood at the scene of her old wounds—and smiled toward the future.

After six years together, Felix Gray breaks up with Mindy Rae Carter, holding his new lover close. Mindy doesn't argue. She grabs her suitcase, takes the breakup money, and leaves without a word. Everyone in the capital expects her to come crawling back within days—after all, she has loved him blindly, without pride or temper. But three months pass, and she still hasn't returned. Felix, once confident and unbothered, grows restless. Regret creeps in, and the silence between them begins to weigh on him. He misses her.

On my 10th wedding anniversary, my former best friend posted a photo of her daughter, my son, her and my husband, with the caption "The perfect pair." I replied "Perfect indeed." The next day, my husband and son blamed me for upsetting her. I threw the divorce papers at them: "If it’s all my fault, I quit your perfect family of four."