Page 40 of The Hotel Room

“Yes, baby?”

Lily hesitated, her wide, worried eyes flicking toward the staircase.

“Is Noah mad at me too?”

Kate’s heart cracked completely then. She crouched, pulling Lily gently into her arms, pressing a kiss to her hair.

“No, sweet girl. He’s just…he’s confused. And hurting. But it’s not your fault. I promise.”

Lily nodded, snuggling closer but staying quiet.

Kate held her tighter, breathing her in, letting the warmth of her daughter’s small body ground her.

When Lily finally let go, retreating back to the couch, Kate stood there for a long time, arms wrapped around herself as if trying to hold all the broken pieces together.

And that night, after the kids were asleep and the house was finally quiet again, she crept back into the guest room.

The unfinished canvas sat where she’d left it, the colors from the night before still raw and dark, streaked with wild brush strokes of pain she hadn’t dared speak aloud.

She picked up the brush again, her hand trembling—but this time, she wasn’t paintinganger.

She was painting the ache.

The unbearable ache of being misunderstood.

Of being invisible.

The joy of carrying something precious and fragile andundeniably hers, and the pain of knowing it would forever link her to a man who had already broken her heart.

The brush moved on its own.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

James

The office smelled like old books and dried flowers.

The scent clung to the air, too gentle, too calm for the knot of tension tightening in James’s chest.

He sat stiffly on the worn leather couch, back ramrod straight, as though slouching would somehow make him weaker. Vulnerable.

The bookshelves lining the far wall were packed with self-help guides and psychology texts—stuff for people who couldn’t control their emotions. People who needed to befixed.

James wasn’t one of them.

Except here he was.

Nick’s voice echoed in his head, sharper than it had been at the bar.

"You need to fix yourself, man. Not her. Not the marriage. You."

Nick didn’t get it.

None of them did.

Dr. Adler sat across from him, calm and expectant, her notepad balanced lightly on her lap. She didn’t press. She just waited.

The silence stretched too long, scraping against his nerves until James cleared his throat.

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