I was halfway through my shift at the diner when my phone buzzed in my apron pocket. The lunch rush was loud and chaotic—plates clattering, orders being shouted—but everything around me went quiet the moment I saw the caller ID. Ethan’s middle school. Schools never call in the middle of the day unless something’s wrong. My stomach dropped as I answered, my hands already trembling. “Hello?” A deep, calm voice spoke on the other end. “Ma’am, this is Principal Dawson. We need you to come to the school immediately. There’s

The cemetery was eerily quiet that afternoon — the wind whispering through the old oak trees, carrying the scent of rain and fallen leaves. My shoes crunched over the damp gravel as I walked toward my husband’s grave, clutching a small bouquet of roses. Four months. That’s how long it had been since I last came here. I’d buried Tom in early summer, but I couldn’t bring myself to return — not because I’d forgotten him, but because of the storm of emotions I wasn’t ready to face. Grief, yes.

“Could You Dance With Me? My Ex Is Watching.” – Extended Exciting Rewrite The chandeliers inside the Grand Meridian Hotel sparkled like stars trapped in crystal, hanging above the most powerful people in Manhattan. Expensive perfume filled the air, champagne glasses clinked together, and fake polite laughs floated around the ballroom. Everyone looked friendly, but Olivia knew very well that in this room, smiles could cut like knives. Olivia Mitchell smoothed the satin of her emerald-green cocktail dress. Her hands were slightly shaking, not from fear but from the overwhelming