Page 119 of Misconception (Unrequited 2)

Michaela

The door clicked shut, and it made me flinch more than it would have if he’d slammed it. He left me gently, but he still left me.

I’d planned on proposing, and now I was all alone in an apartment that didn’t feel like mine when Mo wasn’t in it with me. He was supposed to be the place I could burrow away from the rest of the world, but when the world pushed in on us, he bailed. He’d told me he would be my place to take a breath, and now that he was gone, I couldn’t breathe.

I needed to sit down before I fell, but the orange chair wasn’t an option. Our bed wasn’t either. God, there was nowhere in this apartment that wasn’tus. He’d let me believe this was our home, and I’d taken him at his word. No, I hadn’t unpacked my boxes, but there was no deep meaning behind that. I was a little bit of a sloth when it came to chores around the house, and there was nothing I’d needed in them.

Huddling in the corner of the sectional, I took out my phone and called Rosa.

“Hey, girl,” she answered. “Did you do it?”

“No.” I sniffed.

“No? What happened, mamacita?”

I pressed the heel of my hand into my eye. “I saw Dev this morning at a coffee shop—he had a gift for the baby—and some pictures were apparently taken of us. They ended up online on some gossip sites. Mo was pissed and sad and he walked out on me. He said he needs space.”

She hissed. “What else did he say?”

“He found the divorce papers I had sent to me after the ultrasound. He said he was falling—” My voice broke, cracked, fell apart. I sucked in a fortifying breath. “He said he was falling in love with me while I’d kept a contingency plan. And hell, maybe I had. I knew those papers were in that box. I hadn’t thought of them for a long time, but I knew they were there.”

“Do you not want to be married to Mo?” she asked.

“I want what we’ve been growing to keep growing. I’m still scared, but some of my fear has been easing lately. I’ve been happy, Rosa. I mean, obviously, with all my plans.”

She hummed. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I do want to be married to him,” I nearly whispered the admission, but I meant it. Or…I had, until he walked out.

No, I still did.

“Oh, shit. Your brother’s coming, and he’s got that meddling look on his face. I’m putting you on speaker.”

My eyes rolled toward the ceiling. “No, don’t let him—”

“What’s going on?” Ansel boomed. “Do I have to crack some heads?”

Rosa shushed him. I could picture her swatting his tree-trunk arm and him smiling fondly at her. They made me smile. Love could be easy and safe. It didn’t have to be chaos and screaming matches on the front lawn at three in the morning.

“No heads need to be cracked. Mo is mad at me, and I’m a little mad at him.”

Rosa whispered Mo needed space, to which Ansel growled. “Space? That motherfucker. Is he going to need space from his kid when she isn’t sunshine and roses? Space is bullshit. He needs to be there and work this out with you.”

“I was angry too, Ansel. I’m not innocent in this. I haven’t been easy on him.”

“He has a hell of a lot to prove,” Ansel said. “And he’s not winning in my eyes.”

“He’ll be back,” Rosa soothed. “Once both your heads are cooler, you’ll have a come to Jesus talk.”

I sniffled, but my tears had run dry. “My head is already cool. Now, I’ve moved on to disbelief. I’d planned these grand gestures, yet here I sit, alone in this empty apartment. I hate this place when he’s not in it.”

“You love him.” Rosa was making a statement, not asking.

“I do. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

“Does he know?” she asked.

“No. No, I was waiting…”

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