Page 3 of Anatomy of Us

Jade Herrera. Twenty-five. Two-time Hermann Trophy winner. Fast as wind and starving for trophies.

She reminds me too much of me at that age, and that’s why it stings.

“I know she won’t step aside,” I say.

“Good.” Diana leans back. The chair creaks. “Then, when you pass your medical tomorrow…”

“If I pass,” I cut in.

“When you pass,” she repeats, voice flat, unmovable. “We integrate you slowly. Rehab first. Then partial training with the group. Then we see where you are as preseason goes. No shortcuts. No exceptions because you used to be the best. Clear?”

“Crystal.”

That’s when Wesley wakes up and wails, the sound climbing fast from complaint to demand.

“I should go,” I say, bouncing him gently, trying to calm him. “He needs to eat. And he probably needs a diaper change.”

“Tomorrow at nine,” Diana says. “Evaluation. The new head of medical will handle the whole return-to-competition protocol.”

“New head?” My stomach drops. “Joe isn’t there anymore?”

“No.” Diana’s eyes don’t blink much. “No one told you? We’ve got some changes this season. You’ll be fine with her. She’s one of the best in sports medicine.”

Shit.

A new head of medical. Another person who doesn’t know me. Who maybe never watched what I could do at my peak. Who will only see the body I have now and decide if it’s enough.

“I’ll be here,” I say, and it has to sound like a goodbye and a promise at the same time.

**

My phone buzzes the second I shut the car door. The name on the screen—my lawyer—tells me it won’t be good news. Yvonne never calls to say something you want to hear.

“Talk to me, Yvonne,” I say instead of hello.

“Your ex filed a modification of the parenting plan,” she says, no warm-up.

“What did you just say?”

“He claims you’re insisting on continuing your sports career, and that the constant travel tied to your job makesyou unable to provide the stable home environment a baby needs.”

“Jesus, Yvonne. I gave birth to his son and he still hates me,” I say, and my voice cracks on the last word.

“I know,” she says. “And we’re going to argue that, among other things. But Zoe, this isn’t only him trying to get revenge for the divorce. His new girlfriend is an idiot. One of those social media influencers. She needs the baby to sell the perfect-family image. At least a few days a week.”

Nate.

My ex-husband.

A nightmare with good hair and a smile that used to fool people.

The man I married because he was there, at the right time, in the right place, after Tessa broke my heart into clean pieces and I didn’t know what to do with the bleeding.

He was charming. And I’d never even been into men, not really, not in the way that mattered. Not until I convinced myself I could be. Not until it became easier to say yes than to sit with the truth.

Then he realized being married to Zoe Méndez meant living in my shadow.

Then our marriage turned toxic.