Chapter 1

LIZA

It's a bittersweet feeling as Liza walks out onto her porch for the last time. She is locking the door to what use to be her home. She is leaving her past, her husband of almost 20 years and she is beginning a new life in New York, she is walking towards her future.

'You're going to be okay Liza' she reminds herself. As fearful as she is about starting over and finding a new career. She is equally excited to be moving in with her longtime friend, Maggie. She is so thankful that Maggie is giving her a place to stay and help Liza get back into the workforce in New York.

Liza is thinking back on the last 20 years of her life with her husband and her daughter. Being a mother is the best thing she has ever done, she has loved being a mother. She knows being a wife has not been a good experience for her, sure she loved her husband, because he was the father of her child, but there was always something lacking in her marriage, she knew that she should have never married David, sure she was pregnant, but she knew she shouldn't marry him, but she did and they did alright, but she knew she'd never grow old with him. She is frankly surprised that she stayed for almost 20 years.

When David started to cheat on Liza, she finally had the nerve to end their marriage. She had been wanting out for a few years and he had finally given her a reason to step up and step away from this life in New Jersey and away from her marriage. She wasn't even mad at him for the affair, it was her way out of a bad marriage.

The divorce is final and it went fairly easy for them both. They sold the house and split a little money they had in their bank accounts. They both kept their cars and are working on paying off the credit cards and they will split the school expenses for Caitlin. David will continue to keep Caitlin on his health insurance. When it was all said and done, not only was Liza happy about the divorce, but David was as well.

She has had a couple jobs over the years as Caitlin grew older. The last five years she worked for a book store near her home, it wasn't publishing, but at least she was still around books. She has also said goodbye to her book store job, as she is moving to New York City, her goal is to get back into publishing. She was a literature major in college and books have always been her greatest love. She did have a job at Random House out of college as an assistant and then moved to junior editor, but she became pregnant with Caitlin and left that job to raise her daughter.

Caitlin is now 19 years old and is a college student and is currently in India on an exchange program. She is wanting to become a doctor. Liza is amazed at how smart her daughter is and is very proud of her.

Liza's car is packed with the remainder of her clothes she is taking to New York, she has moved a few things to Maggie's Brooklyn loft over the past couple weeks. This will be the first night becoming an official room mate with her dear friend.

She send's a text to Maggie. 'I'm on my way I'll see you around 7 o'clock'

Liza arrives in Brooklyn and at Maggie's place. "Thank you again for letting me stay with you. You're the best friend Maggie. I love you."

Maggie pours them both a glass of wine and toasts to her friend. "Too our friendship! Too your new life in New York! Welcome Liza!"

The next few days Liza is scheduling interviews for a new job. She is trying to find something in publishing. She is 40 years old and a couple of the places she has been too have not particularly liked that she has been out of publishing for almost 20 years. Her interviewers are girls that are so much younger than her and it feels strange. She is applying for anything available in publishing, she is even willing to start as an assistant if need be, she just wants to get her foot in the door, she'll then work on moving up to a better position. She has also reached out to he former employer and coworkers at Random House, hoping that she can get references or even possibly they would keep her in mind for any openings in the future. So far nothing has been offered, but she is not giving up hope.

Liza sold her car once she got to Brooklyn, so she has plenty of money to take a couple months before she starts to get worried about bills. Caitlin's scholarship helps pay for some of her tuition and she has paid Maggie for a few months on her share of the rent.

CHARLES

Charles Brooks, Publisher/Owner of Empirical Publishing. He has been the man in charge of this family founded publishing house for about 10 years now, he took over when his father passed away unexpectedly. Charles' grandfather had founded the business over 60 years ago. He is 44 years old, very handsome, articulate, rich beyond belief and married with two young daughters.

Walking into his brownstone located in New York City. He is expecting to walk into his normal nightly routine after his work day at Empirical. As he walks upstairs towards the kitchen, he is expecting to find his wife Pauline, they have been married for 11 years, and his two young daughters, Nicole and Bianca, they are six and eight years old.

He sees his girls first, Nicole and Bianca are in the dinning room finishing up their homework from school. They see their dad and run to him with big hugs and kisses for him. "Daddy!" He sits down at the dinning room table with them. "How is homework going? What subjects are we studying tonight?" He asks.

"Spelling for me." Nicole shows her dad the list of words she is working on. "Math." Bianca announces.

"Sounds fun, can I help you with anything? I'm actually really good at both subjects." He smiles.

"Daddy, will you check our work to see if it's right?" Nicole asks.

"Sure, let me know when you are ready, and I'll check your work." He kisses Bianca and Nicole on the top of their heads, then moves to the kitchen to see what Pauline has cooking in the kitchen.

"Hey, where's Pauline?" Charles asks the babysitter. "She didn't tell me she wouldn't be home tonight." He looks at his phone and questions himself, 'Did I miss her call or a text telling me she had plans for tonight? Did I forget something she had scheduled?' No nothing on his phone.

"Hello Mr. Brooks. She called me and scheduled me to pick the girls up from school and get dinner finished for them and for you. She said you'd be home before her. She didn't tell me what she was doing though." Kelly states.

Kelly has been one of their babysitters for a couple years now. She is 20 and in college. "Pauline had things ready in the refrigerator. I'm just finishing up now. Dinner will be ready in about 5 minutes."

"Okay, I'm sorry Kelly, I didn't realize that Pauline had something scheduled for tonight or I would have relieved you a bit earlier. Thanks for cooking dinner for us." Charles reaches into his wallet and pulls out cash to pay her for working today.

Kelly has gone, and Charles has set the places for the girls and himself at the kitchen table. Dinner is hamburgers and mac 'n cheese, nothing too extravagant, just something easy for a 20-year-old college student to handle while keeping an eye on two young girls. While they are having dinner, they talk about school, friends at school and that they want a kitten. 'Oh no, not a pet' he thinks to himself, maybe he can get Pauline to be the 'bad cop' in this pet request.

After dinner Charles sends a text to Pauline 'Hey, sorry I must have forgotten you had plans tonight, the girls are finished with homework and we've had supper. When do you expect to be home? Oh, and heads up, the girls want a kitten.'

She did not text back to her husband. Charles thinks 'maybe she is where she's can't return a text currently'

Charles later walks into their bedroom and finds a letter from Pauline left on the bed.

Charles, I really don't know where to start, so I'll just start. I'm not happy and I'm leaving. We've not really been working as a husband and wife for a couple years now. I feel you are more about your job and company, not being a husband. Charles, you are a great father, but you let me do the majority of the parenting. I'm not taking the girls, I think you need to keep them, it is what is best for all of us right now. Please know, I wanted to make it work, but then as time went on I just didn't. I'm not happy being a wife or a mother and I need to walk away before I disappear completely. I hope that someday you and the girls will forgive me and understand that I had to do this. Pauline.

Charles can't believe what he has just read. 'Is this a fucking joke!?' he thinks to himself. But he then opens Pauline's closet and all her things are gone.