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I lay my head on my knees. “I feel lost.”

“Can I help?”

“Ethan wants the house,” I blurt out.

I don’t know what I’m expecting. For Blake to change Ethan’s mind? It’s not very probable.

“He wants Charlotte to move into my house with him, and Chase to spend half his time in that damn studio apartment with me.”

I swear one day I’ll be able to get through that sentence without tearing up but today is not that day.

“And the worst part is he wants to pay me a fifth of the property’s value for it because his parents gave ‘him’ the land. They gave us the land. It was a wedding present to both of us. He’s not offering to pay me back half of the ten thousand dollars my parents gave us to help pay for the wedding.”

Blake rubs my back, warming my skin and keeping me grounded, keeping me from turning into a puddle of tears like I did last night at Scarlett’s house.

“What do you want?”

I shake my head, unable to answer. “Not this.”

“Do you want to get back with him?”

“No! I could never trust him again after this. And to be honest, I kind of hate him right now.”

“The idea of keeping and sharing the house so Chase could stay at home was ideal, but it doesn’t work if both of you aren’t willing to make it work.”

“What are you saying? I should just give him what he wants?”

“Absolutely not. I’m just trying to get to the bottom of what you want. Do you want to keep the house? Kick him out?”

I think about it. I imagine Chase and I living in that house by ourselves. A sense of claustrophobia overcomes me.

“No, not really. I don’t want to constantly be reminded of Ethan.”

“Well, in that case, I see two possible options.”

“Really? Because I’ve been thinking about it all night, and I can think of a lot more, like burning down the place and collecting the insurance money. Or flooding it. Or tearing it down—”

“One,” he says, ignoring my reasonable suggestions. “You get a lawyer and fight to have the property sold and get your fair half of the money.”

“I don’t want a lawyer. I don’t want Chase to be questioned or put in the middle.”

“Two,” he continues. “You give Ethan the house, but you ask for something you want in exchange.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Is there anything you share that you want to keep for yourself?”

“Well, Chase. But that would be selfish. As much as I’d love to take Chase away from Ethan, I can’t take his father away from Chase. He deserves both of his parents in his life. And for all his flaws, Ethan’s a decent father.”

“Anything else?”

I lean my head to the side, thinking, when my eyes catch the group of tourists finishing up their snacks and standing back up.

“The agency,” I whisper, mostly talking to myself.

I love my job, and I’m great at it. And I’m much happier when Ethan isn’t in the office. Besides, there’s nothing he does that I can’t do myself or hire someone else to do.

“Ethan would hate that,” I say. “It’s as much his baby as it is mine.”