Page 23 of The Moments You Were Mine

A knock on the bedroom door had him snapping, “Go away,” just as I said, “Come in.”

The door inched open, and Rae darted a worried look between us. “Fallon, your phone’s been going nuts for the last twenty minutes.”

I looked at the spot on the bedside table where I usually left my phone charging at night. I could have sworn I’d plugged it in. Instead, I could hear the tone jingling down the hall from the kitchen.

“Fallon,” JJ warned, and I ignored him, pushing past our roommate into the hallway.

My insides were too torn up, my rage too strong, to have a conversation with him now.

Most of my anger was self-directed. This was my fault.Getting back together with JJ after that first painful breakup years ago had been wrong. I’d let my need to be loved, to be the center of someone’s attention, draw me back to him. And I’d gotten what I wanted, his complete focus, and now it had spun entirely out of control until he was actuallyhopingI was pregnant.

I stormed past the sleek, black dining set JJ had bought in March to the counter where my phone had gone silent. I looked down at a series of texts, and when my heart secretly hoped to see one particular name among the others on the list, I grew even angrier with myself. That single reason, the wish to see Parker’s name there, should have kept me from ever starting a relationship with JJ, let alone living with him.

I was the asshole here. JJ should hate me. I hated myself.

The first text was from my best friend.

MAISEY: Where are you? Your parents are worried.

The others were from Mom, Dad, and finally, my stepmom.

SADIE: Everything okay there? We’re at breakfast, and you’re not here.

ME: I thought JJ told Dad we wouldn’t make it.

SADIE: We weren’t sure if that meant just him or both of you.

“Is it him?” JJ demanded, leaning against the arch from the bedroom hallway. With his tie draped over his shoulder and his shaggy, golden-retriever-like hair slicked back, he looked more like a banker than the beach bum I’d first dated. Those bold blue eyes that usually twinkled with charm were dark with emotions I didn’t understand.

Annoyance, still more self-directed than at him, curled up my spine and had me spitting out, “Him who?”

We both knew it was a stupid question.

“Don’t play games with me. Willhebe here today?”

“Heis on a mission. I have no idea when he’ll be back. You don’t see me complaining that Tina will be here today, do you?” I tossed back.

“You and I were broken up when Tina and I were together,” he bit back. “I haven’t been pining after her from the time I was born. I don’t go all doe-eyed when she texts me.”

“Are the two of you really having this same argument? Today? Of all days?” Rae demanded. Her graduation robe was on but unzipped, showing off a marigold-colored dress that set off her warm skin.

I wasn’t sure how she’d put up rooming with JJ and me over the last couple of years, or how she’d remained so neutral.

“No. We aren’t.” My chest grew tight, and my voice was thick as I said, “We aren’t ever having this argument again because we’re done.”

JJ went completely still. “What?”

“I should have said it when I first came back from Rivers. I can’t do this anymore, JJ. It’s clear we want different things out of this relationship. It’s better if we call it quits now while we still like each other.”

“Like each other.” He seemed stunned. “So Sadie and your dad have true love but not us?”

Guilt washed over me, not only for breaking up with him like this—with an audience on the day we were graduating—but for letting it go this long.

“I’m sorry,” I said, taking a step toward him, and he stopped me with a shake of his head.

“No. Don’t. I need to calm down before I do or say something I’ll regret. Let’s just pin this entire conversation until tonight when disappointments and family pressures aren’t getting the best of us.”

I bit the inside of my cheek while he stalked down the hall toward the bedroom.