Ch. Mr.chatterbox for her, Mr.Icebox for me? Ice melts and so did my love. 53 Mr.chatterbox for her, Mr.Icebox for me? Ice melts and so did my love. 53

Chapter 4 

Sunday morning, Eric left for basketball. 

The second he left, I dragged a suitcase out of the closet and started packing. 

Clothes, skincare stuff, a couple books-didn’t even hit the halfway mark. 

Popped open my jewelry box. One pair of earrings. One necklace. Both bought with my own damn paycheck. 

I stood there scanning the whole bedroom. That was literally it. Everything I owned after three years in this place. 

Half a suitcase. That’s what I had to show for it. 

I wheeled it to the door, slipped on my sneakers, took one last look back. 

Wedding photo sitting on the coffee table? Left it right where it was. 

Walked over to the keypad lock and pulled up the password screen. 

Current code: 0912. 

New code. 

I stared at that blank space. 

Then punched in four digits. 

The password I’d set on day one when I first moved in here. 

Our wedding anniversary. 

The one he’d deleted right in front of my face without a second thought. 

Yeah. I just put it back. 

Confirmed. 

Lock beeped. Green light flashed. 

Grabbed my stuff and walked out. Door clicked shut. 

Chapter 4 

Ubered straight to Casey’s and dragged everything into her spare room. 

She was helping me with the sheets when she stopped and gave me this look. 

“Real talk-how are you actually doing?” 

“I’m good.” 

“Because if you wanna like full-on ugly cry, I can bounce for a bit.” 

“Nah. Honestly? I’m totally fine.” 

She fluffed up a pillow and tossed it on the bed. 

“You eat yet? Got leftover ribs.” 

“Oh my god yes. I’m starving.” 

I was at her kitchen table spooning soup when my phone went ballistic. 

Eric called. Again. And again. 

Let them all ring out. 

Then came the texts. 

Where tf are you 

Door’s not working 

DIANA ANSWER ME 

Fourth call-1 picked up. 

“WHAT DID YOU DO?!” 

Full volume. Dude was losing it. Probably been standing outside for like twenty minutes trying to get in. 

“Changed the lock code.” 

“CHANGED IT TO WHAT?!” 

“Not gonna tell you.” 

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?! THAT’S MY HOUSE!” 

Chapter 4 

“Exactly. Your house.” 

Dead silence. 

Then: “Where are you?” 

“Moved out.” 

“Oh come ON-just get back here and fix this!” 

“I’m not coming back.” 

“You’re seriously gonna nuke everything over ONE DINNER?!” 

I looked down at my bowl. Steam still rising. 

“It’s not about the dinner.” 

“THEN WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL IS IT ABOUT?!” 

“Because that place was never mine!” 

“YOU LIVED THERE FOR THREE YEARS-” 

“With HER in every corner! Her birthday on every lock, her ring sitting in your safe, her old love letters stuffed in your closet-hell, you took me to HER spot for MY birthday! I stayed there for three years pretending I belonged and I 

NEVER did!” 

Silence. 

“Figure it out yourself. Call whoever you want. I’m done.” 

Hung up. 

Casey just sat there staring at me. 

After a beat: “Soup’s gonna get cold.” 

“Yeah.” 

I ate. 

Phone kept buzzing. I flipped it over and killed the volume completely. 

Half hour later-new text lit up the screen. 

Chapter 4 

Got a guy out here. Door’s open. 

Changed it back. 

I stared at it way too long. Screenshot. Saved it to a folder called “lawyer.” 

“He get in?” 

Casey peeked over. 

“Yup. And guaranteed he changed it right back to 0912.” 

She sighed. 

“He can reset that code a hundred times. Doesn’t mean he gets you back.” 

Sun was going down. 

Casey’s living room had these soft yellow lights everywhere-warm, cozy. 

I sat on her couch and actually noticed them. 

Three years in Eric’s house and I couldn’t tell you what color a single lightbulb was. 

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