A week before her wedding, Penelope sat across from Jake—the man she thought was her forever—at their favorite Mexican restaurant. Surrounded by fairy lights and half-eaten tacos, she was still glowing from finalizing the last wedding details. She had just told him how excited Clara was to make handmade signs for the backyard ceremony. That’s when his face went still.

Jake pushed his plate aside and said, “Your kids… they kind of bother me.” He took a sip of beer and added, “I’ve been paying rent for them, and they’re not even mine. It’s time you cover their share. Five hundred a month sounds fair, right?”

Penelope felt the world tilt. The man who once read bedtime stories and brought lemon donuts was now calculating rent per child. Her heart sank, but her voice stayed calm. “You walked into our lives. No one asked you to. And now you want to be a landlord, not a stepfather?”

Jake tried to justify himself. “I didn’t sign up to pay forever.” She looked him straight in the eye. “Neither did I—at least not for someone who treats compassion like a ledger.”

That night, after Jake left, Penelope tucked her kids into bed, kissed Clara’s forehead, and adjusted Cole’s blanket. She quietly peeled his sticky notes off the fridge and let the tears come—not for Jake, but for the illusion of safety she thought they had.

In the morning, she told the kids, “The wedding’s off.” And when Cole asked, “We’re still a team though, right?” she smiled through the ache. “Always.”