Chapter 2

In the end, I put on one of my favorite colorful dresses and reached out to my old agent, Mary Wilder, inviting her to meet up at a café so we could reminisce a bit.

When Mary arrived and saw me, she looked completely confused. "Why do you suddenly have time? Isn't today the day you're supposed to take Ethan to his tutoring session?"

I was always the one picking Ethan up and dropping him off for his tutoring, rain or shine.

But he couldn't stand my rules and always tried to dodge me.

He'd secretly text Olivia and ask her to send someone to pick him up instead.

While I was out there desperately searching for him, even getting hit by a car and refusing to go to the hospital, he was in Olivia's arms, whining about how I was always nagging and such a pain.

The chat was still stuck on my last message to Richard: [Ethan has tutoring at 5 PM tomorrow. Make sure he doesn't skip again.]

He still hadn't replied.

Did it hurt?

Maybe it used to, but at that moment, I just felt numb.

I put my phone away and gave Mary a smile. "I had the nanny pick him up. Come with me to the music store."

But just as we got to the music store, my phone rang. It was the nanny, sounding frantic.

She said, "Mrs. Shaw, Ethan's missing. He said he didn't want to go to his lesson this afternoon and snuck out. I can't get in touch with him."

I gripped my phone, keeping my voice steady as I said, "Let Richard know. Ethan's probably with Richard or Olivia."

After hanging up, I just kept browsing sheet music as if nothing had happened at all.

An hour later, Richard called. There was a lot of noise in the background, and his voice was simmering with anger.

He said, "Ethan was almost taken by human traffickers. The police and military stopped them just in time. Where are you? Why didn't you pick him up?"

I walked over to the window, watching as the sky outside grew darker. "I figured with Ms. Lane as his role model, he wouldn't need a useless mom like me to pick him up."

There was a long silence on the other end. When he finally spoke, his voice was even colder.

He said, "Claire, you need to pick your moments for this attitude. Ethan was in trouble, and you didn't care. Do you want to catch my attention?"

I suddenly felt so tired, and I didn't even want to explain myself anymore. "If you think it's all my fault, then let's just get a divorce."

He sounded like I'd just said something completely absurd, his voice cold and firm. "Claire.

"Olivia and I are just colleagues. Don't start this again."

I let out a weary sigh. "Alright, just blame it all on me. I'm sorry. Does that make you happy now?"

There was a dead silence on the other end.

After what felt like forever, Richard finally said, "Where are you right now? We need to have a serious talk."

Really? Did he want to talk?

After all those times I asked for this and got nothing, I didn't see any reason to care anymore.

I softened my tone, not wanting to drag this out any longer.

I said, "No need. Go be with Ethan. I'm sure with you and Olivia around, he'll be just fine."

With that, I calmly hung up.

I didn't bother answering the next call, just switched my phone to silent and tuned it all out.

After I sent out the divorce papers, I got back in touch with my old orchestra and Mary.

Not long after, I got an invitation from the military to play the closing piece for a memorial event honoring the fallen heroes.

On the day of the performance, I put on a gown I hadn't worn in forever and stepped onto the stage with my old friend James Carter, the famous violinist, as he took the stage for the solo.

Our rendition of Eternal Homeland was the highlight of the night. The piano and violin wove together, capturing both heartbreak and gentle warmth. When the music faded, the applause was thunderous.

Richard watched as James and I played in perfect sync. Even the usually rough-and-tumble soldiers were moved to tears by the music. The cameras and lights were all focused on me.