CHAPTER 1: Rainwater on the Open Suitcase

Maya Calder stood in the driveway with rain running down the back of her gray jacket and a suitcase lying open at her feet.
Her clothes were scattered across the wet pavement as if someone had searched for dignity and thrown that out too. A blue sweater Aaron used to steal on cold mornings lay half inside a puddle. A pair of shoes floated against the curb. The small framed photograph she had wrapped in a towel was face down on the asphalt.
Behind her, the Graydon house glowed warm and dry. White trim, black shutters, careful hydrangeas, the porch light Aaron had installed because Maya hated coming home to darkness.
Vivian Graydon stood under that porch light in a red dress, her arms folded, her mouth calm with victory.
Beside Vivian, Lucas watched from the doorway in a damp green shirt, looking young and guilty and too willing to let his mother speak for him.
Two police cars idled behind Maya. Their blue lights moved across the rain, across the suitcase, across the house that had once been hers by marriage and by promise.
Vivian lifted her chin. 'Officer, I told you. She does not live here anymore.'
Maya looked down at the soaked suitcase and said nothing yet.