THE EMPTY CHAIR AT HER SISTER’S WEDDING WAS SUPPOSED TO PROVE HER FIANCÉ HAD LEFT HER—BUT WHEN A QUIET STRANGER SAT BESIDE HER, KORA NEVER IMAGINED HE OWNED THE HOTEL, OR THAT HIS FAMILY WAS ALREADY PLANNING THE MARRIAGE THAT COULD DESTROY THEM BOTH

to make abandonment look less obvious.

By the third toast, Kora had stopped flinching at the empty seat on her left. But the empty place on her right was different. That one she had been carrying inside herself for six months, through every room she entered, every meal she pretended to finish, every conversation where people stopped just short of asking continue reading …