Gray Area

Her ex said she was past her prime. Her younger man begs to differ.

***

Two decades designing couture for the elite, and building a billion-dollar fashion brand, should feel like success. Instead, I have an empty mansion, a fresh divorce settlement, and the sinking feeling that I traded everything meaningful for a life that looks better on social media than it does in the mirror.

When my practically estranged best friend passes away, she leaves me with the one thing my ex-husband never gave me a chance to have—a baby. Well, a soon-to-be baby, currently residing in a surrogate’s belly. Surprise!

Guilt-ridden, and scared to face this alone, cue my desperate funeral plus-one Saylor, an escort with bedroom eyes and a smile that makes me forget I’m supposedly “past my expiration date.” He’s over a decade younger and shouldn’t give me a second glance after the check clears.

Only he does.

And while I’m spiraling over surprise motherhood and the thoughts of launching a new fashion empire, away from the clutches of my ex, this way-too-young-for-me man has the audacity to look at me like I’m the only woman in the world.

“Too old” is what society whispers about women my age starting over. Too old for babies. Too old for new beginnings. Definitely too old for Saylor’s salacious advances that make me feel like a teenager in lust.

But what if the happily ever after isn’t lost, just fashionably late? And what if the unattainable escort couldn’t care less about earning his money, because he’s making a play for my heart?