Daniel lifted his head from a book and smiled like he was seeing me for the first time. He always looked at me that way.
“Right on time,” he said, closing his book. He embraced me with a hug and a passionate kiss. His five-o’clock shadow scraped at my skin, but I didn’t mind it.
“I missed you,” Daniel said in between kisses.
“I missed you too.”
His large hands ran down my back. “How was your retreat?” He pulled away, looking into my brown eyes.
“It was great.”
“Did you Eat, Pray, Love?” he teased.
“Yeah, something like that.”
He squinted, leaning a little closer. “What happened to your eye?” His finger grazed over my bruised skin.
I turned from him and set my purse on the buffet table. “Took a branch to the face on a hike.”
He made a humph sound. “Where was this retreat again?”
“Outside of Seattle.”
“I barely got to speak to you. Only a couple of text messages. I was worried.” He raised his brows.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “That’s the point of a retreat. It wouldn’t be very relaxing to be on my phone the whole time, now would it?” I tilted my head.
He curled a piece of hair around his pointer finger. “Did you do something different to your hair?”
I pushed his hand away gently and kissed him on the cheek. “Just some spa conditioning treatments.”
“I like it.”
“Mom’s home!” Margot yelled.
My two children came bundling down the stairs. Margot, my ten-year-old, and Jacob, my eight-year-old. I knelt extending my arms out. They practically knocked me over when they plowed into me for a hug. I held them tightly, smelling them, taking them all in.
“I missed you two so much.” I kissed them on their cheeks and foreheads.
“Not as much as we missed you.” Jacob giggled.
“Oh, is that so?” I released them and gave my little lanky boy a poke in his belly. He giggled louder.
“It’s true, Mom. We missed you a million times more,” Margot said with a smirk.
“I don’t know about that. I thought about you two every minute of every day I was gone.” I stood, placing a hand on my hip.
“Well, we thought about you every second,” Margot quipped, copying my stance.
She was too clever for her own good, and she reminded me of myself. She too was a little different.
I shook my head and smiled. “Who wants pizza?”
“I do. I do. I do.” Jacob and Margot said in unison. They danced around one another. Daniel wrapped his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into him.
“I’m so happy to be home. I feel like me again. Complete. Balanced.”
He kissed my forehead and hugged me a little tighter.
“Can I come with you next time you go on a retreat?” Margot asked. She clasped her hands together and followed it with a “Please, please, please.”
The corner of my lip perked up. “Maybe when you’re a little older.”
Margot cheered and hopped around on two feet, then one, then two again. Jacob followed suit, always copying his older sister.
“I’m going to call Lou’s and order a pizza,” Daniel said, and he disappeared into the kitchen.
“I get to go on Mommy’s retreat,” Margot repeated over and over as she jumped around.
I smiled wide, and all of a sudden—I felt it.
Right in the center of my back.
An itch.
Acknowledgments
First, thank you to my agent, Sandy Lu, for seeing in me what most others didn’t. In just two years, you’ve sold eight of my projects （and counting） but most importantly, you’ve been beyond supportive on and off the page.
Thank you to the team at Blackstone for continuing to champion my work! Especially: Celia Johnson, Rachel Sanders, Josie Woodbridge, Stephanie Koven, Kathryn Zentgraf, Ananda Finwall, Sarah Riedlinger, Jeffrey Yamaguchi, Naomi Hynes, and Rick Bleiweiss. Special shout-out to Samantha Benson for keeping me sane on my last book tour and for being the best publicist an author could ask for. Sorry, I couldn’t get you all VP titles, but you’re all MVPs in my book.
There are people I have to thank who take one for the team by reading early drafts of my novels. Thank you and sorry to Kent Willetts, Briana Becker, Andrea Willetts, Cristina Frost, and James Nerge for reading the less polished versions of You Shouldn’t Have Come Here.
Thank you to my family and friends for supporting and encouraging me throughout this entire journey! To my mom, I wish you could have been here to see my dreams come true, the ones you always knew I’d achieve. It’s been bittersweet without you, but you’re in my heart and in every word I write.
Thank you to April Goodman （aka @callmestory on Twitter） for being an incredible and invaluable beta reader. You made this book better!
Thank you to Kayla Whitehead for winning the “have a character named after you” contest on my Instagram and for allowing me to borrow your name.
Thank you to the real Avery Adams for letting me borrow your sweet name for the opposite of good and thank you for also not being anything like my fictional Avery Adams （that I know of）。 Special shout-out to Katie Colton and Yale Viny for your friendship, endless support, and thoughtfulness.
Thank you to the booktokers, bookstagrammers, and book reviewers for taking the time to not only read my work but also shout about it in such creative ways. I absolutely love seeing the videos and photos you create to highlight the books you adore.
Thank you to the booksellers, librarians, and everyone else who has helped put my books in readers’ hands. I appreciate your endless support and tireless work. You make the book world a better place!
To my readers, “thank you” seems too small for what you have all done for me.
So, let me make the font bigger and bolder. THANK YOU!
Sorry, it’s still not big enough, but just know you’ve changed my life for the better, and I am eternally grateful.
And last but certainly not least, thank you to Drew for being the greatest hype husband of all time! You’re the first to read my work, the first to tell me it’s great, and the first to celebrate my successes and my failures. Without you, I wouldn’t be “Drew’s wife.”
About the Author Jeneva Rose is the internationally bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage and One of Us Is Dead. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and optioned for film and television. Originally from Wisconsin, she currently lives in Chicago with her husband, Drew, and her English bulldog, Winston.
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