“Out here is the kitchen.” We walk through to a large kitchen, and I roll my lips in annoyance. “Wiz and I could cook up a storm,” he says. Harry’s eyes widen in excitement.

I hate it.

Wade has never lived here; his memories are in our current house.

I don’t want new ones without him.

I don’t want to erase everything that he stood for. Why doesn’t Tristan get that?

My pulse begins to throb in my temples, and I feel like I’m about to explode.

I am now seeing red. I can’t deal with this.

“This is the living area,” he gushes.

The boys run to the back windows. “Oh my God, look at the pool,” Patrick cries.

“It has a pool bar, Mom,” Fletcher gasps.

“You’re not old enough to drink,” I snap.

“And look,” Tristan says as he leads me through the house excitedly. “This could be your office.” We peer into a room. It has a large window seat and looks out onto a leafy veranda. “And this could be my office, next door.” He shows me into the office. “There’s a bathroom down here. A second living area for the boys. A gymnasium.”

The boys run through the house in excitement.

Fury begins to burn a hole in my stomach.

How dare he?

He leads me upstairs and down the hall. “Look at the master suite, Claire.” He pulls me into the room, and I look around as I try to hold my sarcastic tongue.

It’s beautiful and the size of half my current house.

“And the bathroom.” He smiles excitedly. I peer in, and it has a huge white-marble bath like I’ve always fantasized about. “Look at the size of your closet, babe.”

Something snaps deep inside of me. “It’s not my closet, Tristan,” I bark.

He pulls me into his arms. “But you like it . . . right?” I look around as I search for something nonbitchy to say.

I’ve got nothing.

The boys all scream in excitement as they look at the rest of the upstairs.

“I’m having this room,” Harry cries.

“I want this one!” Patrick yells.

“I can see the pool from mine.”

Tristan’s eyes search mine. “What do you think?”

“About what?” I snap.

“Do you like it? I think I’ll make an offer today.”

“An offer for what?”

“To buy it for us to live in—what else?”

I screw up my face at his presumption. “I don’t want to live here.”

“Why not?” His face falls. “It’s close to the boys’ new school. You, Fletch, and I all work in New York. There’s a yard for Muff and Woofy.” He smiles as he pulls me into his arms again. “It’s perfect for us.”

“I’m not moving, Tristan,” I insist. “I want to live in the house we are in.”

“Claire,” he says flatly, and I know he’s about to give me his hard-core sales pitch. I can already tell he’s made up his mind on this house, and when Tristan Miles decides he wants something, he doesn’t give up until he gets it.

I’m shutting this down right now.

“I’m not moving,” I snap. “End of story.” I pull away from him and storm downstairs and out to the car.

“How was it?” Michael smiles as I walk out onto the street.

“Lovely,” I reply.

“Can you see yourself living here?” He winks.

I glare at him as the last of my patience dissipates. “No. I can’t, actually.”

I get into the car and slam the door, and ten minutes later Tristan and the boys amble out of the house. I watch as he talks to Michael as the boys all listen, and then finally they get into the car.

The boys are all excited and talking about everything they have just seen.

Tristan gives me a sideways glance, annoyed with me.

“What?” I snap.

“Don’t give me what,” he growls as he pulls out into the street. “You didn’t even look at it.”

“I don’t have to. I’m not moving from my home in Long Island.”

“It’s too small for us.” He rolls his eyes, as if I’m an idiot, and my blood begins to boil.

“I want my boys to have room to have their friends over,” he asserts angrily.

Something snaps inside of me.

Wade had plans for his sons, and I can’t ignore them.

I won’t.

“They are Wade’s boys,” I bark. “You need to stop calling them your boys.”

The car falls deathly silent.

He narrows his eyes at me. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

I glare out the front windshield and cross my arms, too angry to form words.

“You do know, Claire . . . that when we get married—”

“If we get married,” I fume.

“I will be adopting the boys.”

“What?” I explode. I stare at him for a moment in utter shock . . . what the fuck? He wants to adopt them. “That’s not happening, Tristan.”

“What?” he screams.

“They already have a father,” I snap.

“I want them as my sons in the eyes of the law.”

“Well, you can’t fucking have them legally. You get to live with them—that’s enough.”

“Mom!” Fletcher cries from the back. “Stop it.”

Tristan’s eyes bulge from their sockets. His eyes flick between the road and me. “So you’re telling me I can care for them, I can love them, but I can’t ever call them my sons.”

“They have a father,” I repeat. “And they will remember and respect his wishes.”

“He’s fucking dead, Claire,” he barks. “And I won’t be punished because he’s gone. I want them legally to be my sons.”

I lose the last of my control. “It’s never fucking happening,” I splutter. “They are my and Wade’s sons. Not yours. They will never be yours. I told you to find someone else and have your own children—you can’t have Wade’s.”

He punches the steering wheel as he loses control, and we all jump. Patrick starts to cry.

“You’re scaring him.”

Tristan grips the steering wheel with white-knuckle force. His eyes fill with tears as he stares straight ahead.

Why did I say that?

Tears well in my eyes, and I angrily wipe them away.

We drive in silence the rest of the way, and he pulls into the driveway. He leaves the car going.

“Are you coming, Tris?” Harry whispers.

“No, buddy,” Tristan replies as he stares straight ahead. “I’ll call you later.”

“No, Tristan,” Patrick begs. “Please come in.” He begins to cry. “Don’t go.” He grabs him over the back of his seat as he begs him not to leave.

Tristan closes his eyes.

I get out of the car, angry that my children would choose him over me. Surely they get my point? Don’t they have any loyalty to their father?

“Get out of the car,” I demand to the boys.

Fletcher gets out.

“Get out of the car,” I snap. Patrick slowly gets out.

Harry sits tight.

“Get out of the car, Harrison.”

“I’m going with Tristan.”

I’m furious. How dare he say that in front of the boys and put me in the position where they think I’m the bad guy? I’m being loyal to their father . . . and so should they.

“You will do no such thing.” I yank the door open and grab his arm as he fights me. “Let me go!” he screams as he kicks at me. “I want to stay with him.”

Tristan pinches the bridge of his nose, overwhelmed by the situation.

I struggle to get him out as the two other boys watch in horror, and I slam the car door hard.