AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I need my belongings,” he finally says, and I hate—Ihatehaving this conversation through the phone. I slide down the door, my eyes finally adjusting to the lack of light in the office. I wrap my arms around my legs pressed against my chest and switch Remi to speakerphone, placing the phone on my knee.
“You have an entire apartment full of belongings. What’s here has always been here. You’ve lived without it this long, surely you don’t need it back right this minute.”
His sigh is heavy, laced with a thousand emotions that he won’t admit to.
“I need more clothes, J. Over the last six months, almost every scrap of clothing I own ended up at your place. I broke down and bought some boxer briefs last weekend. My father asked me why I’ve been wearing the same suit for a week.”
I suck my lips around my teeth to stop myself from laughing. I can completely picture that conversation happening.
“Then come by and grab a suit yourself. Or better yet, it’s Monday. Come over for dinner and crash in your old room. It’ll be like old times, before everything got so screwed up. I miss you, Remi. Not just in the way you think, but I missyou. You were my best friend, long beforewebecameus. Julia has been baking like crazy, it’s driving me out of my mind.”
“I know,” he says softly, his voice filled with affection. “There was a cake and muffins in my last care package. She’s left me enough food to feed a small third world country.”
“You know how she gets. If you’d eat dinner here, she wouldn’t send you so much.”
I want to ask him who told security to ban me from the building, but I don’t have the courage to handle his response just yet.
“Justin,” he breathes, and I know what he’s going to say before he even says it.
“What happened, Remi?” I ask before he has a chance to cut me fresh. “One minute you were ready to spend the rest of your life with us, and now you’re cutting us off completely. You owe me that much. You owe us that. At least be honest with me. We’ve always told each other the hard truths, even when it hurts. It’s how we got here to begin with. Tell me what brought us to this place where you send your assistant to empty our house of you.”
Remi roughly clears his throat, and I imagine him pulling at the tie around his neck, loosening it, so it no longer feels like a noose.
“You know what happened,” he intones, trying to avoid the conversation.
“But that’s just it. I don’t. Not really.”
“I was reminded that I have responsibilities outside of where I sleep at night. Like ensuring that my employees still have a job, so they can afford the roofs over their heads. My happiness is not worth the risk to their livelihoods. It’s as simple as that.”
“You really think the fallout would be that severe?”
Because I don’t. No matter what Doc Miller says about the inconvenient truth of being black, I’m sure that after the air cleared of all the ashes, the Lancaster dynasty would still be standing firm. There might be a dented door or busted window, but nothing a little rebuilding and good PR couldn’t fix.
“I don’t know,” he says honestly, and I can hear the uncertainty in his voice. “That’s the problem. There’s no way of knowing until it happens, and that’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”
“Then come home and we’ll go at it a different way!” I insist, my voice rising despite my best efforts. “Please, be reasonable. You don’t have to do this, make a clean break. Let’s compromise. We’ll move your clothes out of our closet and back into your room. You can sleep in your room from now on. I’m not asking you to marry us. I’m not asking you to sleep in our bed. But don’t erase yourself from our lives. I miss you, Remi. Desperately. I miss my best friend.”
“And watch you and Julia from the outside looking in, never able to touch? No thank you, I’ll pass. I’m in enough pain as it is.” His voice trembles on the last, and he takes a moment to get himself back under control.
“Are you still wearing my ring?”
His breath hitches, a stifled hiss spits between his teeth, and finally,finally, I get a response that proves he’s hurting as much as we are.
“I’m sorry, Justin, but this is the way it has to be. I’ve said everything there is to say.”
It’s not. But I don’t have it in me to fight it anymore.
“Call Julia, please,” I ask him, standing up from the floor. “This isn’t fair to her, and she’s going to keep bringing you food until you tell her not to.”
I take him back off speakerphone and wipe the lone tear away before it has a chance to escape my eye.
“Yeah,” he says quietly, and it feels like glass against my skin. “I’ll call her tonight.”
He should have called her three weeks ago.
“Remi—” I start, then stop in my tracks and lean my forehead against the wall.I love you. I miss you. Please, for the love of God, please come home.
“I’ll be here if you want to talk,” I say instead, offering him an olive branch I hope he’ll be willing to take.
