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Another message appears before I can decide whether to answer.

Unknown Number: I had to get a new number since I can’t seem to text you from mine.

Because I blocked him.

Unknown Number: You always loved white peonies.

Emma: Don’t contact me again.

Three dots appear almost immediately.

Unknown Number: Please.

Unknown Number: I’ve spent weeks thinking about everything.

Unknown Number: I didn’t realize how much you handled until you were gone.

Another message arrives before I can lock my phone.

Unknown Number: Everyone keeps asking me questions you used to answer.

Unknown Number: My assistant doesn’t know how I work.

Unknown Number: Meetings get missed.

Unknown Number: Scripts arrive late.

Unknown Number: I keep reaching for my phone to call you before I remember you aren’t there anymore.

I stare at the screen long enough for another notification to slide in.

Unknown Number: You kept my career running.

Unknown Number: You kept my life running.

Unknown Number: I should’ve appreciated everything you did for me.

Unknown Number: I should’ve married you.

Months ago those words would’ve unraveled me.

Tonight I read them differently.

Every message circles back to the same place. His schedule, his company, his life.

He misses the woman who carried the parts of his world he never had to think about, and he still hasn’t asked how I’m doing or whether I’m happy.

I block the number.

Before I lock the screen, another message appears from a different number.

Unknown Number: Blocking me won’t make me stop trying.

I block that number.

Another notification appears before I reach the ballroom doors.

Unknown Number: Emma, please.