I open my drawer for a pen and my fingers brush paper.
It’s a wolf sketch that Bri drew for me the day we spent our first evening alone, the day we talked about her mom. There’s a moon behind the animal and her crooked little signature at the bottom.For Mya.
My throat clenches.
I miss her so much it’s a physical ache. I regret not saying goodbye face-to-face. I called her a few days after Nantucket, once things stopped spinning. She picked up right away.
“I’m not mad, just a bit sad,” she told me. “But I get why you left.”
“I hope I see you again,” I said.
“You will,” she answered, with way more confidence than I had.
I love you and your father,I wanted to add, but I didn’t.
I press the sketch flat on my desk and blink back the sting in my eyes, right as Dre knocks on the cubicle wall.
“Hey.” She looks tired. Her eyes drop to the sketch, then back to me. In her hand is a manila envelope.
“Special delivery,” she says softly.
I already know what it is.
I straighten my shoulders. I asked for this. I’m the one who said we needed to end the deal before I could actually decide what I wanted.
Still. When Dre hands it to me, dread presses down on me.
“You okay?” she asks.
“I’m good,” I lie, giving her my brightestthis is finesmile. “Thanks, Dre.”
She doesn’t buy it. No one has bought it since I walked back in here with puffy eyes and a perfectly ironed blouse. But she nods, because she knows me.
“I’ll be fine,” I add, also trying to convince myself.
“Mm.” Dre taps the cubicle once more and leaves.
I wait until she’s gone to open it.
On top, there’s a letter.
Mya,
As agreed, enclosed are the finalized dissolution documents. Everything has been executed on my end. Payment confirmations for your student loans and outstanding personal debts are attached for your records.
Thank you for everything.
—W.
Under the letter are the annulment papers.
We agreed we’d keep this quiet for now.
No public statements or legal filings made visible unless absolutely necessary, because the last thing Worth needs is for Vanessa to find any excuse to drag him back to court, waving “instability” and “failed marriage” like fresh ammunition.
I swallow hard.
This is what I wanted, I remind myself for the umpteenth time. So why does it feel like my world is officially ending?