Ch. Mr.chatterbox for her, Mr.Icebox for me? Ice melts and so did my love. 55 Mr.chatterbox for her, Mr.Icebox for me? Ice melts and so did my love. 55

Chapter 6 

I stared at that message for a solid ten seconds. 

Jenna. 

The name that had been embedded in every single lock in my house-now just sitting in my text messages. 

I didn’t reply right away. 

I put my phone down, took a sip of water, then picked it back up. 

Yeah, it’s me. 

She responded almost instantly. 

Sorry to bother you. I heard some things happened with Eric. 

His mom told me today he’s been trying to reach you but can’t get through. She asked if I could help. 

I didn’t answer. Just waited to see if she’d keep going. 

A minute later, another text came through. 

There are some things I think I should probably clear up with you. 

Would you be okay talking on the phone? 

I called her. 

She picked up on the second ring. 

“Hi, Diana.” 

Her voice was soft and careful. 

“Hi.” 

“There are some things I think you should know.” 

“Go ahead.” 

Chapter 6 

She took a breath. 

“Eric and I broke up five years ago. I was the one who ended it because I was going abroad for grad school and he 

didn’t want to do long distance. After that we barely talked, but our families stayed pretty close.” 

“Okay.” 

“When I moved back two years ago, my mom kept inviting him over for dinner and he came every single time. I didn’t find out until way later that he’d gotten married. I was honestly really surprised.” 

“Why were you surprised?” 

“Because he never mentioned you to me. Not once.” 

My fingers tightened around the edge of my phone case. 

“He literally just said, ‘Yeah, got married last year,’ and that was it. Nothing else came up.” 

I leaned back in my chair and stared out the window at the glass building across the street reflecting the dying light. 

“Jenna, can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.” 

“No, go ahead.” 

“His phone password, WiFi password, door lock, safe-everything’s set to 0912. Did you know about that?” 

There was a long silence on the other end. 

“That’s my birthday…” 

“I know.” 

“He set everything to that?” 

“Everything. The day I moved in, I set the lock to our wedding anniversary-0521. He changed it right in front of me to 0912. The WiFi network is literally named JM0912.” 

Her breathing got really quiet. 

“Diana… I had absolutely no idea.” 

“I’m not blaming you for any of this.” 

“That’s-that’s not okay at all.” 

“What’s your situation now?” 

Jeeberg for Me? Ice Melts and So Did My Love! 

45.29% 

Chapter 6 

She paused for a second. 

“I got married last year. My husband’s last name is Carter.” 

“Congratulations.” 

“Diana, what he’s doing-none of that is right. I’m going to tell my mom to stop inviting him over from now on.” 

“I appreciate that, but this really isn’t your problem to fix.” 

“What are you planning to do?” 

“File for divorce.” 

She went completely silent for several seconds. 

After we hung up, I just sat there at my desk without moving. 

It was getting dark outside now. 

Jenna was married. 

Had been married for over a year. 

And Eric was still carving 0912 into every lock in his life, desperately holding onto a space that didn’t even exist 

anymore. 

I opened my photo gallery and scrolled back to find an old picture. 

First day I moved in. The lock screen was displaying: 0521. 

I’d taken it just seconds before he changed it. 

Back then I thought it would be a nice memory to keep. 

I saved it to my evidence folder, locked my phone, and headed back to Casey’s place. 

On the way there, Casey texted: Made chicken soup. You almost here? 

I typed back one word: Yeah. 

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