Page 87 of With Love

“I didn’t either. Not until yesterday when I was talking to her.”

“I thought you talked to her two days ago? Not yesterday.”

“Hmm? Oh. Yeah, that’s what I meant,” he says. “Sorry. I guess I’m still a little tired myself.”

I nod my head in agreement and offer him a slight smile. I take another sip of my coffee.

“Thank you, Owen. I needed this.”

“You’re welcome,” he says, kissing me gently on my head. “Where are we headed? We can check out whenever you’re ready.”

“I have no idea. I don’t know what the right answer is at all. I don’t even know if leaving was the right thing to do.”

“Woah, what do you mean? Adrienne, he cheated on you. How could you possibly want to stay with him after that?”

“I don’t know for sure that he cheated. I just-- I just needed to get out of there and clear my head. I just needed to think.”

He rolls his eyes slightly as he drops his head back against the headboard again. I don’t think he meant for me to see, but I did.

“Do you have a cell phone?” I ask him. “I would love to try and get ahold of Lucy. I want to find out where she is and talk to her face-to-face.”

“No, I don’t. Sorry,” he answers.

I lean back and close my eyes.

“Can we just stay here for a little while? Until I figure out where I want to go and what I want to do?”

“Sure,” Owen says before leaving my bed and flopping down onto his own. He grabs the remote from the table between us and turns on the TV.

“I’m going to hop in the shower,” I say to him but all he does is nod and I’m terrified at the thought that I’ve made him angry.

Just like that, the strong independent woman that I’ve fought to become these past few months begins to slip away.

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