Why not? You have an entire executive team. Marcus could handle this. Marcus isn't me exactly. He isn't you.
So maybe it's time you trusted him to be himself. Selena stood there trapped between who she'd always been and who she was trying to become. Ethan could see the war happening behind her eyes. I'll think about it, she said finally. That's all I'm asking.
She went to Tokyo, but only for five days instead of two weeks. And she brought back gifts for Khloe and called every single night, not because Ethan asked her to, but because she wanted to. When she came home, Chloe hugged her at the door and said, "You came back faster this time." I did. Good. Don't leave for that long again.
I'll try. Trying isn't the same as promising. Selena knelt down to Khloe's level. You're right. So, I promise.
No trips longer than five days unless it's an absolute emergency. What counts as an emergency? If the company is literally on fire. Okay. But only if it's actually on fire.
Not just having problems. deal. They shook on it, solemn as a business contract. Ethan watched from the kitchen doorway and felt something loosen in his chest. This was messy, imperfect, full of fights and compromises and moments where neither of them knew what they were doing. But it was working.
That night, after Khloe was asleep, Selena found Ethan sitting on the porch. "Thank you," she said. "For what?" for not giving up, for pushing back when I need it, for reminding me what I'm fighting for. You make it sound like I'm doing you a favor. You are.
You and Khloe both. She sat beside him. I spent 10 years building a company because I thought that was the only thing worth building. And then I walked into the wrong house and found something better. A wobbly table and frozen pizza. a family, a home, a reason to come back.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. I'm still going to screw this up sometimes. I'm still going to say yes to trips I should decline and work late when I should be here. But I'm trying. I promise I'm trying.
I know. And that's enough. They sat in the quiet, listening to the sounds of the neighborhood settling down for the night. Somewhere a dog barked. Somewhere a car door slammed.
And in this small house on Maple Ridge, two people who should never have worked somehow kept choosing each other. It wasn't perfect. It would never be perfect, but it was real and messy and theirs. The rhythm they'd found lasted almost a year before it shattered. It happened on an ordinary Tuesday in September.
Khloe was starting third grade, complaining about her new teacher who assigned too much reading. Selena was in her home office managing a product launch that had gone sideways in three different time zones. Ethan was planning his fall curriculum and trying to decide if his juniors could handle Beloved or if he should stick with something safer. Then his ex-wife called. He hadn't heard from Jennifer in 8 months.
Not since the last custody modification hearing where she'd agreed to keep things as they were. Chloe with Ethan full-time. Jennifer getting alternate weekends and scattered holidays. It worked because Jennifer lived two hours away and her job as a pharmaceutical sales rep kept her traveling most weeks. But when he answered the phone, her voice had an edge he recognized.
The same edge she'd had right before she told him she wanted a divorce. We need to talk, Jennifer said. About what? About custody. I'm moving back to Connecticut.
Ethan's hand tightened on the phone. When? End of the month. I took a position with a firm in Hartford. Better pay, better hours, and I'll actually be close enough to be a real parent.
You are a real parent. You know what I mean? I want more time with her, Ethan. I want to be involved in her life. You are involved.
Two weekends a month isn't involved. It's visiting. Jennifer's voice softened slightly. Look, I know I messed up. I know I chose my career over being there for her, but I'm trying to fix that.
And now that I'm going to be local, I want to renegotiate the custody arrangement. To what? 50/50. Week on, week off. The words hit him like a truck.
You can't be serious. I'm completely serious. She's my daughter, too, and I've missed too much already. You missed it by choice. You're the one who left.
And I'm trying to come back. Why are you fighting me on this? Because Chloe has a life here. She has school, friends, a routine. You can't just show up after being gone for three years and demand half custody.
I can if the court agrees, and they will. I'm her mother. I'm employed. I'm stable. And I'm local.
There's no legal reason to deny me equal time. Ethan's mind raced. What does your lawyer say? That I have a strong case. But I don't want to do this through lawyers, Ethan.
I want us to agree for Khloe's sake. For Khloe's sake or for your sake both? Is that so wrong? He didn't have an answer. After Jennifer hung up, he sat at the kitchen table staring at his phone, trying to process what had just happened.
Selena found him there 20 minutes later. "What's wrong?" she asked immediately. He told her, watched her face change as she absorbed the implications. "She can't do that," Selena said. Can she?
I don't know. Maybe. She's the biological mother. She's got a job. She's moving back.
That might be enough for a judge to grant shared custody. But Khloe barely knows her anymore. Legally, that doesn't matter. Biologically, Jennifer has rights. Selena sat down across from him.
What are you going to do? Talk to a lawyer. Figure out what options I have. Hope that he stopped. I don't know.
I I don't know what I'm hoping for to We'll figure it out. We Yes, we You think I'm going to sit this out? This isn't your fight, Selena. The hell it isn't. Chloe is She paused.
Chloe matters to me. You know that. I do. But you're not her parent. Legally, you don't have any standing.