Chapter 1

When I learned that my husband Lucas Bennett's terminal cancer diagnosis was a mistake, I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

I rushed home to share the good news, but he handed me a divorce agreement.

"I've settled for a lifetime with you," he said. "Now that I only have three months left, I want to spend them with the person I truly love. Please grant me this final wish."

I stared at the words on the paper. He was giving up everything, walking away with nothing. I hesitated for only three seconds.

*****

"Let's get divorced. Please, let me fulfill my final wish," Lucas said, handing me the divorce papers. His eyes were calm, his tone serious.

I stood there, stunned. After a long moment, I finally managed to ask, "The woman you truly love? What do you mean?"

Lucas was wearing a white linen shirt and beige casual pants today. One'd never guess he was already in his thirties. He still looked every bit the refined, handsome professor.

He lowered his head. "Yeah, my time is running out. There's no need to keep it from you anymore.

"In the third year of our marriage, I met a girl. She was my student.

"We used to talk about literature all the time. We had so much in common, always on the same wavelength. It was nothing like the everyday stuff I discussed with you. We really connected on a deeper level.

"I started to have feelings for her. But I was already married, and because I felt responsible for our family, and she felt bad for you. We ended up going our separate ways."

Lucas's voice was calm, but there was a wistful longing in it. As he spoke about that girl, there was even a hint of a smile on his lips, one he probably wasn't aware of.

"All these years, we've stayed friends. We never crossed any lines. Whenever we met, we'd talk about poetry, classic literature, and the meaning of life."

He stared at me. "You know, it's only when I'm with her that I feel truly alive, like I'm a whole person. I don't have to be weighed down by the mundane routines of daily life or the stress of raising a family.

"She's my muse, my soulmate. What happened between us was something unexpected, something the world wouldn't allow, and it's my biggest regret."

I listened quietly to his heartfelt confession, an ironic smile tugging at my lips. "Wow, you really got layers of bullshit, don't you?"

Lucas froze, his ears instantly turning red, like he'd been slapped. He barked, "Vulgar! You're not even a fraction as refined as she is.

"Do you even realize how much I can't stand your crudeness and ignorance? Marrying you was like pearls before swine."

I was speechless for a moment, the anger I'd felt at first slowly fading away. "So what? Am I supposed to apologize to you?"

I stepped closer. "Professor Bennett, so if you dress up your affair in poetry and art, does that suddenly make cheating some kind of romantic legend?"

Lucas finally seemed to realize how awkward this was, but his gaze stayed firm. "I'm getting this divorce, no matter what. I don't want to die with any regrets."

He slid the divorce papers over to me. I picked them up and flipped through them, my eyes skimming past the "irreconcilable differences" in the reason section, then landing on the asset division part: "Lucas leaves empty-handed."

Lucas lifted his chin, sounding almost magnanimous. "None of this stuff matters to someone about to die. It's the least I can do for you. Consider it my way of making it up to you."

I scoffed, with that misdiagnosis report still in my pocket. I grabbed the pen and signed without a second thought.

Fine, I should let him chase after his soulmate and his so-called spiritual world. I would be stuck with all these mundane houses, bank accounts, and funds on my own.

*****

Lucas was totally caught off guard by how fast I agreed. He stood there in shock, clutching the signed divorce papers.

While he was still processing, I headed straight to the bedroom and went to town on his stuff. I packed up every single piece of his clothing from the closet and crammed it all into two huge suitcases.

He was still trying to wrap his head around it. "Laura, are you really that desperate to kick me out?"

I shot him a look, my tone dripping with sarcasm. "Wouldn't want to get in the way of you chasing after your soulmate, now would I?

"All your clothes are right here. I'll have a moving company send your books from the study over tomorrow. Give me an address. Oh, and you'll have to pay when it gets there. Make sure you sign for it."

Lucas suddenly had an epiphany. "I get it now. Ever since you found out I was dying, you couldn't wait to dump me, could you?"

He looked down at me with that superior mix of pity and contempt, like he was the real victim here. "That's why being with you has been nothing but torture.

"Our marriage was a mistake. You're shallow, obsessed with money and petty things. Being with you is a complete waste of my life."

As he kept talking, his eyes went all dreamy again. "But life shouldn't be like this. Emily says life should be like a snowfall you stop to admire, full of romance and poetry, like the beauty of spring and all that"

I couldn't help myself. I cut him off, my lips twitching in disbelief. "Are you done? Sorry, but I'm too 'ordinary' to stomach you two cheaters and your shameless love talk. Take your crap and get out. Now."

Lucas's gold-rimmed glasses flashed coldly, and the way he looked at me was pure pity and disdain, as if I were some stain polluting his spiritual sanctuary.

He opened his mouth, ready to throw another insult, but a phone rang and cut him off.

His mocking glare melted into something almost tender. He picked up, and I could faintly hear a woman's voice on the other end.

It must be his precious Emily.

Whatever she was saying, probably sweet-talking him, Lucas's face softened with a kind of doting tenderness I'd never seen before. Even his voice went all soft and gentle.

He'd never once spoken to me like that.

I always thought all couples were ordinary, calm, and stable. My marriage had been messed up for ages, and I never even noticed.

Lucas walked out for good.

I looked around the empty room. Sunlight streamed in, the flowers on the balcony swayed gently in the breeze, and every now and then a bird flew past the window. Everything was like it always had been.

Nothing in this place changed because he left.

I thought I'd be bawling my eyes out, totally losing it, but I wasn't.

The realization hit me so quickly. In a few hours, I'd gone from relief to shock, from anger to calm, and then I was even starting to feel a little bit free.

Honestly, I didn't need a guy like him. Since we were divorced and he was leaving with nothing, it was like winning the lottery. Honestly, what was the difference between this and inheriting from a dead husband?

I almost forgot.

I patted the pocket where I kept Lucas's misdiagnosis report. My husband wasn't dying. He slipped out of my life in his own style.