At the moment, Danielle Worthington was having a hard time believing in true love, much less happily ever after.

After unclipping the camera from the tripod, she adjusted the camera’s shutter speed and photographed the models in front of her. The models were posing as a happy couple. They wore jeans and t-shirts to portray a casual, relaxed look, and stood in front of an historic wooden house with a white picket fence at Sam Houston Park. They were depicting the American Dream.

Their smiles looked true and their affection genuine, but Avery and Jacob could barely stand the sight of each other.

Jacob put his arm around Avery and pulled her close. They gazed at each other, their faces only inches apart. Danielle went up the stairs and stood on the other side of them. She took more photos. They were such a cute couple.

“I’ve got enough casual,” Danielle said. “Go get dressed up, guys.”

As Jacob and Avery turned away from each other, their smiles turned to scowls. At least they were professional enough to pretend to like each other during the shoots.

Danielle glanced at her phone. She had two hours to get back to her office in time to meet her father for lunch. A wave of anxiety swept over her in anticipation of that meeting.

She took a deep breath and swallowed the nausea. Her father loved her no matter what. Right?

He’d always been there for her. There was no reason why he wouldn’t be there for her now.

Avery and Jacob were back within minutes. Avery was now wearing a red party dress, and Jacob was wearing a black tux.

They made such a beautiful couple.

Danielle’s heart did a little summersault as an image of that night flashed through her mind. The night that she had worn a floor-length red dress, and Joey had worn a black suit. Danielle had felt like a princess that night. She’d thought they were in a fairy tale.

The fairy tale hadn’t collapsed at midnight, but at six a.m. the next morning. That girl, whatever her name was, had been surprised that Joey wasn’t alone. In fact, that was the only satisfaction that Danielle took from the whole fiasco.

Now she saw her relationship with Joey for what it had been all along: a sham, just like Avery and Jacob. She’d fallen for an illusion.

Never again.

After taking several more photos, she could tell that they were getting tired, and she needed to rest too.

Walking back to the parking lot, she enjoyed the warmth of the Houston sun. She’d lived here for six weeks now, but already she had found that she liked the friendliness of the people and the warmth of the weather.

A Los Angeles native, Houston wouldn’t have been her first choice. She had an affinity for New York, though she’d only visited there once with her stepmother, Savannah, whose love for the big city had been contagious.

Nonetheless, Danielle was content with Houston.

Except for one small detail.

When she got to the parking lot, she had to call an Uber. Houston was definitely a driving town, and Danielle would be content if she never had to drive.

After the Uber driver picked her up, she noticed an American flag decal on his rearview mirror. Seeing it was like taking an instant punch to the gut.

Her ex-boyfriend, ex of five weeks and four days, was in the Air Force, stationed here in Houston. They’d been on-again-off-again for several years. When he’d suggested she move to Houston, she’d thought they were moving forward. Together.

Unfortunately, she’d been moving forward alone. Danielle had subsequently implemented a self-imposed dating moratorium. It hadn’t been hard to do since she was in a strange town and knew absolutely no one other than coworkers. And since they all worked independently, she really didn’t know them either.

She’d found a furnished apartment to rent, a job, and left home for the first time.

Okay, she admitted to herself that there were other factors involved. One, her mother had just gotten married a second time, this time to her high school sweetheart, so moving out of the house was long overdue. And second, Houston put her a little closer to her father, who lived in Alabama and had a charter flight company in Fort Worth.

Though she hadn’t seen him in nearly two months, he was flying down today to take her to lunch for her birthday. Today, she would tell him that she and Joey had broken up, and she was living alone in Houston. And again, the thought made her queasy. Odd. She’d never been nervous about seeing her father before.

Maybe she’d picked up a virus.