I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 34

"Dad, I want more of that!"

It was Cassie. Even from a distance, her sharp, bright voice pierced right through the door.

Normally, Nora wouldn't have been able to hear them from this far away, but Cassie possessed a naturally penetrating pitch—especially when she was this euphoric. It was a joyful energy she only ever displayed when Nora wasn't around.

Nora and Felix turned simultaneously, glancing through the cracked door.

Finnegan's group was seated at a nearby booth. Cassie sat in a booster seat, a kids' meal spread out before her. Seraphina sat beside her, meticulously cutting a steak into bite-sized pieces and sliding the plate over to the girl.

In front of Finnegan was a plate of shrimp. He expertly peeled the shells, removed the veins, and stacked the fresh meat onto a small dish. Once he was done, he gently slid the dish over to Seraphina.

He looked up at her, his eyes filled with a level of absolute devotion that Nora had never once been on the receiving end of.

Seraphina looked down at the shrimp, smiled sweetly, and popped one into her mouth. She mouthed something that looked suspiciously like, *The shrimp Finn peeled are so sweet.*

The effortless intimacy between them felt like a serrated blade twisting directly into Nora's heart.

A memory surfaced unbidden. She had once seen a viral video of a husband peeling shrimp for his wife. Thinking it was romantic, she had playfully asked Finnegan to do the same for her.

Finnegan had patted her head with a patronizing sigh and delivered a line she had never forgotten.

"Honey, you're not the unreasonable type, right? It's just social media conditioning you. You can peel your own shrimp. You don't need a man to do it to prove his love."

At the time, she thought he made a fair point. She hadn't actually bought into the internet trend; she just wanted a tiny bit of pampering, a moment of harmless flirting.

If he didn't want to do it, fine. She hadn't thought much of it.

But watching him peel shrimp for Seraphina now, everything clicked into place.

It wasn't that he hated peeling shrimp. He just hated peeling them for *her*.

He wasn't incapable of romance; he simply reserved it for someone else.

Pulling her gaze away, Nora turned to Felix. "I should head back to the lab."

He stood up. "I'll drive you."

Nora waved him off. "No need. You have a shift this afternoon, right? I'll just grab a cab."

Felix didn't push. They parted ways at the entrance. He watched her get into a taxi, standing on the curb for a long moment with a darkened gaze before heading to his own car.

Settling into the back of the cab, Nora was about to close her eyes when her phone rang.

She checked the screen—it was Ms. Zimmerman from the academy.

Nora's expression went cold. She stared at the screen for two full seconds before finally answering.

The teacher's frantic voice burst through the speaker. "Cassie threw up at school! She's in a lot of pain, please come right away!"