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She’d waited twenty years to leave. I’d lasted an hour after finding out about Garrett and Sophie, but I’d done it. She was right. Those people weren’t worth your time.

“You okay?” Tyson appeared beside me, voice low enough the others couldn’t hear.

I nodded. “Just thinking.”

He studied me for a moment, then nodded toward the door. “Come on. Best part of construction is the end-of-day beer.”

So I ended up on my half-demolished porch steps, sharing beer with my contractor while his crew packed up for the day. The sun was setting, painting everything golden. My house looked like a disaster zone, but somehow that felt appropriate.

“You gonna tell me why you moved here?” Tyson asked after a while in a low voice. “To Cedarbrook specifically?”

“You gonna tell me about Noa’s mom?”

“Touché.”

We drank in comfortable silence as the men walked around us, beers in their own hands.

“My almost ex-husband cheated on me with my twin sister for two years,” I said suddenly. The words came out matter-of-fact, like I was discussing the weather. “I found out at our wedding.”

Tyson choked on his beer. I patted his back automatically, waiting for him to breathe normally again.

“At your wedding?”

“Reception, technically. I found them in one of the hotel rooms. Their moans could be heard from the hallway.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah. So I didn’t say anything, then during the speeches, I played a recording I’d made of them together over the speaker system.”

“Wait. Your sister was there, too?”

“Yes. She even was my maid of honor. Gave a speech about soulmates and destiny and how some love was written in the stars.” I took a long swig of beer. “The recording played right after that. Beautiful timing, really. I’m proud of myself.”

He stared at me with something between horror and awe.

“And then you left?”

“Yeah. Oh, not before I filled his underwear with fiberglass powder. He was scratching while everyone looked at him.”

“You’re terrifying.”

I smiled. “Thank you.”

“So you already sent the divorce papers?”

“Yes, and then I drove here. Been hiding out ever since while my lawyer handles the details. He’s fighting it, obviously. While stalking me. The usual scorned narcissist playbook.”

“That’s why you needed the locks changed.”

I nodded. “That’s why I needed the locks changed.”

Another silence, but this one felt different. Weighted with shared truth.

“Noa’s mom left when she was six months old,” he said finally. “Just… left. Note on the kitchen counter saying she wasn’t cut out for motherhood. Signed over full custody and disappeared.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.” He peeled the label off his beer bottle in strips. “Noa doesn’t remember her, which is probably for the best. But she’s fixated lately on the idea of me finding her a mom. Hence the matchmaking attempts.”