I shook my head. “No.” It couldn’t be Dad—he had a key.
She was still on hold while I got up to look through the peephole.
“You have got to be kidding me,” I muttered.
“Who is it?” Megan asked.
I turned. “Let’s just say when it rains around here, it really pours.”
“Laney! I hear you. Please open the door.”
Megan’s eyes popped open. “Oh my God, what is he doing here?”
With a sigh, I opened the door. “Derek.”
My ex-boyfriend was standing on my threshold, looking like he had just gotten off work, but also looking a bit out of breath, like he’d jogged here from South Lake Union in his tech pants and polo shirt.
As I looked him over, I couldn’t help wondering how I’d ever been attracted to him. In Seattle, sure, he was considered a relatively stylish man. If you owned footwear that wasn’t a running shoe or Birkenstocks with tube socks, you were fancy.
But after I had spent the last two weeks with Ronan and his sophisticated, if simple style, Derek just looked cheap to me.
Cheap and sweaty.
“Good,” he said. “Your dad said you were home.”
I scowled. “Why were you talking to my dad?”
“Because I tried to call you, and your phone was off.” He held out his own phone. “I saw this.”
BLACK WEDDING DRAMA LLAMAS!
Ronan Black’s Reception Ends as Bride Flees
By Ivy Ink
Below was a short article detailing the events of the evening with unerring detail, right down to a description of Dad’s hair in the video. Under the byline were two photos, side by side. The first was of Ronan and me sharing one of many conversations that night, like we were the only two people in the room.
We looked ensconced in our own world.
We looked in love.
And then there was the second photo, which only showed me from the back as I ran for the door, but caught Ronan’s face, devastated with guilt. And heartbreak.
Something inside me cracked.
“Laney?” Derek edged into the apartment, though he left the door open. “Baby, are you okay?”
“She is not your baby, Derek,” Megan snapped, still on hold with the doctor. “Laney, seriously, though. Are you all right?”
“No,” I mumbled, still staring at Derek’s phone. He caught it just before it dropped from my fingers.
Two seconds later, he was pulling me into his arms like he had always done. “Hey, I have you. I’m here, Laney. I have you.”
For some reason, that was the veritable straw that broke the camel’s back. Not the fact that my husband had lied to me. Not the fact that he was obviously hiding something much worse than his plans for my company.
No, it was the fact that another man was comforting me, a man I had somehow thought I had ever loved, and it was just wrong because he wasn’t him. He wasn’t Ronan.
The tears fell like a current, intent and furious, while the rest of the room lost its focus.