Chapter 5 "27 times." Kyle let out a sudden laugh. The sharp edge of the divorce decree nicked his palm. "While Holly was pleading with me for 27 days, you managed to get 12 stomachaches, seven car breakdowns, four claims of violence from your family, and your dog somehow had acute gastroenteritis four times. "Ruby, do you actually think I'm an idiot?" In the city hall's lobby, a few couples who were waiting to get married quietly raised their phones to record the scene. The color drained from Ruby's face, and her styled curls clung to her damp temple. "You promised you'd deal with my family, and now you're pretending to be some grieving saint? Where was that when Holly was "Shut up!" Kyle drove his fist into the queue number display screen, the glass splintering on impact. Ruby found her voice again. "You know full well her mother..." The shattered screen threw back a warped reflection of Kyle. All the things he'd been avoiding came flooding back to him at once. Me at 3:00 am, hunched over the printer, fine-tuning sketches. My fingers trembling around a lab report at a hospital bedside. The rattle of suitcase wheels against the floor the last time we saw each other. Ruby flinched at the look on his face, then squared her shoulders. "Why are you acting all heartbroken now? When Holly begged you to marry her, didn't you call her a nuisance? You said she guilt-tripped you every day with her mother's terminal illness-" "I said shut up!" Kyle's roar sent the sparrows outside the window skittering skyward. When the security guard rushed in with his baton raised, he was greeted by the sight of the usually immaculate Kyle holding his ex-wife's collar as he pushed her against the wall. Her cashmere coat lay in a rumpled pool on the ground. I dragged my suitcase out of the airport, the briny ocean air washing over my face. I found an old apartment by the beach and signed the lease. The gray-haired landlady slipped a set of keys into my hand and smiled. "This place has always brought people luck, sweetheart. Folks who move in tend to get a break and turn their lives around." 1/2 Chapter +25 Bonus I stared at the mottled wallpaper, where a sunflower sticker was plastered crookedly. Suddenly, I remembered how Mom always lined the windowsill with sunflowers. "Sunflowers are great," she'd say. "They turn toward the light, and even when they fall, they find a way to rise again." My tears came out of nowhere. I spun around to swipe them away and found the landlady leaning in the doorway, cradling a pot in her weathered hands. A pale- green sunflower was sprouting. "The previous tenant left this," she said, nudging the pot into my arms with a warm smile on her wrinkled face. "I have a feeling we'll get along." Three days later, a boutique design studio called me in for an interview. Clutching my portfolio, I pushed open the glass door to their seaside office. The ocean breeze set the sketches whispering. The man at the desk, Samuel Rowland, looked up, his eyes bright behind gold- rimmed glasses. He tapped the stack of designs, his voice warm. "Wasn't this series shown two years ago at the International Emerging Designers Exhibition? The 'Caged Bird', right?" I froze at his words. Back when I was helping Kyle get the company off the ground, I'd quietly submitted the series of designs. Later, he said we had to keep a low profile and made me withdraw it from the exhibition. I'd never imagined anyone would still remember. "Yes," I said, fingers tightening on the hem of my dress. The memory from two years ago hit me like a wave. I'd been hunched over the desk in the company's storage room, sketching past midnight. Kyle burst in, splashing coffee across my sketches. He sneered. "The clients want commercial work. What good are these useless feathers?" At the present, Samuel stood, his fingertips tracing the struggling bird on the sheet. "They're worth something. It's just a shame I never got to see the rest of the series."