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Blocked.

I only get a few moments of respite before it all kicks off again. A third number. He has to be using some kind of app or something, and doing it fast.

Unknown Number: I know I don’t deserve another chance.

Unknown Number: I’m asking anyway.

Blocked.

The phone vibrates again.

Unknown Number: I love you.

I stop walking.

Another message appears before I can move.

Unknown Number: I should’ve said it more.

Unknown Number: I should’ve shown it.

Unknown Number: I thought we’d always have time to fix things.

Another vibration.

Unknown Number: I still see you everywhere.

Unknown Number: I wake up expecting you beside me.

Unknown Number: I keep reaching for you before I remember you’re gone.

The next message takes longer.

Unknown Number: I don’t care about the house.

Unknown Number: I don’t care about the schedule.

Unknown Number: I don’t care about any of it if you’re not there.

Then another.

Unknown Number: Come home.

Years ago I’d have searched every sentence for proof that he’d finally chosen me. Tonight I see what I couldn’t before.

He waited until I left to tell me I mattered. He waited until someone else had the version of me he’d taken for granted.

My thumb hovers over the screen before I block the number.

It vibrates again almost immediately. Another unfamiliar number.

I don’t read the message.

I block that one too, silence my phone, and slip it back into my clutch before pushing open the ballroom doors.

Lena looks up from her conversation as soon as she sees me. She excuses herself and crosses the room. “You okay?”

I let out a slow breath. “Spencer. He wants me back.”