Chapter 1

The Thanksgiving dinner at the Fowler' s house was my first time meeting them as Ryan' s fiancée, and the air was thick enough to cut with a knife.

For the past hour, I had watched Ryan lavish all his attention on his widowed sister, Nicole, and her son, Jayden. He cut Jayden' s turkey, refilled Nicole' s wine, and told her a funny story from work that I' d already heard a week ago. I felt like a stranger, an unwanted guest at their private party.

The breaking point wasn't some big, dramatic fight. It was a piece of pie.

Pecan pie. The recipe was my late adoptive mother' s, a secret she passed down to me. For years, I had baked it for Ryan on special occasions. It was our thing.

When his mother brought it to the table, Ryan' s eyes lit up. "Stella, this is amazing, as always."

He cut a large slice for himself, then one for Jayden. Then he cut the last, most perfect slice. I smiled, waiting for him to pass it to me.

Instead, he walked it over to Nicole. "Here, Nic. I know it's your favorite."

Nicole gave me a brief, triumphant glance before smiling sweetly at her brother. "Oh, Ryan, you shouldn't have. But thank you."

Something inside me just snapped. I kept my face neutral, but the warmth I had been trying to hold onto all evening evaporated.

Ryan finally seemed to notice my silence on the car ride to the townhouse we shared. "What's wrong with you tonight, Stella? You barely said two words."

"I'm just tired," I said, looking out the window.

"Tired? Or are you mad about the pie? Don't be childish. Nicole's had a hard year. It's just a piece of pie."

His dismissal of my feelings was the final straw. The pie wasn't just pie. It was a symbol of nine years of being pushed aside for his sister. It was a symbol of my love, which he had just casually given away.

"It was never about the pie, Ryan," I said, my voice dangerously calm.

He sighed, exasperated. "Then what is it about? You need to be more understanding of Nicole's situation. She's a single mom. She's family."

"I am your fiancée," I reminded him. "I'm supposed to be your family soon."

He didn't have an answer for that. The silence in the car was heavy with everything left unsaid over nine long years.