Page 92 of Why Not Forever?

I shake out my hands because I’m suddenly feeling the effects of adrenaline. I let out a huff of breath.

“Vic?” Adalie says, resting her hands on her pregnant belly. “Did you mean everything you said?”

I nod.

“Even the part about loving Tanner?”

I swallow hard because I just admitted it aloud for the first time and not even to the person who I love.

“Yes. I need to go home.” I scan my office, looking for something. What am I looking for? “I need to talk to Tanner.”

Spencer steps forward, picking my purse up from the floor and setting it on my desk. He puts my phone inside, then points to my jacket, hanging on the back of my chair.

“Right. Thank you.”

I’m about to rush out of my office when Adalie stops me for a hug. “You did great.”

I hug her back and something pokes into my belly. “Adalie, I think your baby kicked me.”

She laughs. “She wants to be part of the hug, too. She’s like her momma.”

I laugh as well before I leave the office and the building. I rush home, making the ten-minute walk in record time. When I get inside, the apartment is empty.

I pull out my phone, but there’s no missed text or call. Where could he be?

I call him but he doesn’t answer. I’m very confused now, standing in the living room at a complete loss for what to do next, when my phone buzzes with an incoming text.

Tanner

I assume you heard what happened. I need some time to think. I’ll be home tonight.

I read the text again and again.Time to think.What does that mean? Now that he’s not getting Sterling, does he not want to stay married anymore? Did he ever want to marry me? What does it mean for our relationship if he needstime to think? Is it over? Was it real?

I’m about to spiral into doubt, my thumbnail halfway to my mouth, when my gaze snags on the vase of paper flowers on my china cabinet. Four new flowers have joined the original, one showing up on the first day of each month. They’re all different colours, all on green pipe cleaners. In the middle is the single white paper rose he’d given me eight years ago. I walk into my bedroom and pull an old shoe box from the closet, carrying it into the dining room and sitting at the table.

Inside the box are all the pieces of origami Tanner has given me over the past seven months except the couple I keep in my office. There are cranes and frogs, a few hearts, including the one from the wedding, even a paper plane. He’s given me other flowers and birds, some butterflies, and a boat. I pick one up, turning the bunny around in my hands. I don’t know why I took the box out, but now that I have, I remind myself that I trust Tanner. Even if he doesn’t love me the way I love him, maybe he can get there if we give it a little more time.

I’m about to put the bunny back into the box when I notice something I hadn’t before. On its back, I see the impression of writing. I run my finger over it, feeling the bump of the words. Either he had this paper underneath something he was writing on, or there’s something written on the inside.

I sit there for a moment, debating. I don’t want to unfold the bunny, but I’m also certain there’s something written here, and I want to know what it is.

Carefully, my hands trembling, I undo the first fold, then the next and the next until I can smooth the paper out in front of me. In the middle of the square sheet, it says, “I’m glad you’re feeling better. But I wish I could have stayed home with you today.”

He’d given me this after I’d been sick with the flu. He’d gone to work that day and when he came back, I’d made him dinner.

I pick up another piece. The penguin he’d given me when we’d done the dance class and I’d brought it home after. I think about how he’d made me promise not to throw any of the origami away. Was this why? Had he written a note in all of them? I unfold it, flattening it so I can see the message on the inside. “Dance like no one’s watching.”

I pull out another and another, unfolding the paper and reading what each one says. Every single one has a message inside. Some are just a few words, like “You’re beautiful,” or “Happy Thanksgiving.”

Others have longer messages that tell me about his day at work and how much he hates working at Sterling. I had no idea. He hated working there so much. Why hadn’t he ever told me? Then I unfold a paper bird and I have my answer.

“The only thing keeping me at Sterling is you. You deserve this company, Vic.”

He wanted me to have the company because he thought I wanted it. I start laughing. We’d gotten married thinking the other person was the one who wanted Sterling Properties more, when in truth, neither of us does. If that’s the case, if he never wanted it and it was just because of me, what is the real reason he wanted to get married?

I pick up the paper ring he’d given me when we agreed to this whole marriage of convenience. When I have it unfolded, I read what he’s written. “Please keep saying yes.”

I take a breath and pick up the paper heart he gave me on our wedding day. White with gold lining. Inside it says, “I meant every word.”

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