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    Summary

    The balcony is empty. The air is thick with summer heat.

    Michaela steps closer than she should. Francesca's legs part, almost reflexively, for her husband’s cousin. Michaela slips between them and rests her hands on Francesca's thighs.

    She leans in. Francesca can smell the limoncello on her breath. Her nose brushes Francesca's cheek.

    "Tell me it's killing you like it's killing me," Michaela whispers against her skin.

    Francesca trembles. Her need pulses in her chest, her stomach, lower still.

    "Please, Fran."

    "We can't."

    "I know. I know."

    -OR-

    Francesca Stirling is a high-powered Manhattan attorney on her eighth round of IVF. Her husband's cousin, Michaela, arrives for the summer and immediately upends Francesca's routines. When her husband leaves for a work trip to London, Francesca is forced to reckon with the woman she has spent years refusing to look at — and with the question of whether she can finally become herself without breaking the man who loves her.

    Language:
    English
    Words:
    23,855
    Chapters:
    5/8
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