At 40 and with three kids, the last thing I needed was my husband suddenly working every day with a gorgeous, talented, much younger French prima ballerina. But life didn't care. Late nights. Missed dinners. A shift in his voice when he said her name. And just like that, the marriage I thought was unshakable began to crack. Now I'm forced to face the truth: Every pas de deux has a breaking point. And ours... might be reaching its final step. ‧₊˚♪𝄞₊˚⊹ ‧₊˚♪𝄞₊˚⊹ ‧₊˚♪𝄞₊˚⊹ ‧₊˚♪𝄞₊˚⊹ 🩰 A marriage cracking after 16 years 🩰 Emotional cheating 🩰 Mild OW drama 🩰 Holiday angst 🩰 Mischief, fluff & cute moments 🩰 Maybe not enough grovel... and small doses of pettiness 🎄 Yes, there's an HEA. It is Christmas, after all... ✨

Nora is good at surviving. She has been doing it her whole life. She knows which silences are safe. She knows how to make herself small enough to go unnoticed. She knows how to hold a life together with nothing but routine and patience and the quiet, unshakeable knowledge that things could always be worse. She has never asked for more than she has. She has never believed she deserved it. It isn't a big life. But it is hers. And it is stable. And stable is everything. Then one day, it isn't. When the life she has held so carefully together begins to crack, Nora finds herself facing the one question she has never had an answer to. If she leaves, where would she go? Warning: This story uses mature language and scenes. © IcecreamSundae5. All rights reserved.