Page 7

C ole stood on the other side of my door, dressed in a blue button-down beneath a beige suit. I tried not to let my eyes travel over him. I hated that he looked so good all the time, even when I irrevocably despised him.

Those beautifully annoying brown eyes.

That flawless brown skin.

His perfectly lined-up hair.

That smooth damn goatee.

I ignored it all and folded my arms as I asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been calling you for days,” he said.

“And?”

He gave me a dry laugh. “I thought you’d have been mature enough to answer me at least once.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What do you want?”

“I’m worried about you,” he said.

“Maybe you should be more worried about keeping your dick in your pants.” I flashed him a faux smile.

“Rose.” He threw his hands in the air. “Come on, I’m trying here. We can still give this another shot.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose, one arm still folded over my chest. “Look, I’m seriously not in the mood for this tonight. Stop coming to my apartment and expecting me to be open to the idea of you being here. I never will be. Why do you think I moved out of the house in the first place?”

The whole point of getting this apartment was so I wouldn’t have to see his face again.

But he’d found out where I moved to when he saw the security deposit in my bank account.

At the time, he still had access to my accounts.

He wanted to know where I was, so he called my complex and figured out which apartment I was in.

That was my fault. I should’ve changed all of my passwords and changed ownership of my accounts first thing.

Instead, I spent days and nights crying in bed.

“It’s just . . . well, I miss you, Rose.”

“Goodbye, Cole.” I stepped back and started to close the door.

He wedged a foot in the crack to stop it.

I lifted my gaze to his with a frown.

“Have you heard from Eve?”

My brows stitched together so fast I didn’t have a chance to control my reaction. “ What? ” He couldn’t be serious right now.

“Eve? I—I was just wondering if you’d heard from her. She agreed to meet me last night.”

“Meet you last night for what ?”

“There’s something I wanted to talk to her about. Just wanted to, uh, apologize for . . . everything. But the main reason was so I could ask her if she knew any ways I could win you back. She knows you the best, so I just figured—”

“Get the fuck away from my door, Cole.” I couldn’t stand here and listen to anymore of his bullshit. He truly was an asshole.

“But Rose, I—”

“GET AWAY FROM MY DOOR, COLE!”

He flinched and had the nerve to look flabbergasted. Perhaps he was. I hardly ever raised my voice. I also didn’t burn people’s clothes and then slap the shit out of them before walking away, yet here we were. This man brought a lot of ugly out of me.

I swallowed my rage, closed my eyes to fight the burn, counted to ten in my head like Cristine suggested when I felt a violent urge coming, then sighed as I opened them again.

“I don’t need you trying to win me back,” I told him in the calmest voice I could muster.

“We are done . The divorce papers were sent to you weeks ago. I don’t want this to get ugly so please just get off my doorstep, sign the damn papers, and leave me alone. I am never taking you back.”

He opened his mouth like he was going to speak. Before he could, I shut the door in his face and locked it. I stepped back far enough to see his shadow near one of the side windows. He lingered for a while, then sighed. After a few seconds, his shadow moved, footsteps sounded, and he was gone.

Biting back tears, I returned to the kitchen and grabbed my leftover dinner. After pouring a glass of wine and taking a large gulp, I sat at the dining table and reached for my laptop.

I needed to focus on this article and turn it in to Twyla, but for the life of me, I couldn’t concentrate. Not only because of Cole’s random appearance, but also because of what he’d said about Eve.

Why were they still in touch with each other?

What made him think she had any power to salvage our marriage?

If anything, this made their situation appear worse.

For all I knew, they were still sleeping together.

They were both idiots. I wanted to say that to Eve’s face.

I wanted to say that and a hell of a lot more, but I would never be able to arrange that if she didn’t answer her damn phone.

I ran my fingers over my forehead to smooth the frown lines before picking up my own phone. Once I found Nico’s name, I gave him a call.

“Hey, Rosette.”

“Nico.” I fought a laugh. “I told you to stop calling me by my full name. Only my dad has that privilege.”

“My bad. It’s a nice name though. I don’t get why more people don’t call you by it.”

“Rose is easier to say, I guess.”

“Sure, Rosette. Look, if you’re calling about the Melissa Cowan stuff, I’m still working on it.”

“No, it’s not that,” I said, though that was important too. “This is about someone else.”

“Okay. Who?”

“Eve Castillo. I need you to track her location for me.”

Eve Castillo journal entry

I’m ashamed right now. Ashamed and so stupid. I bought a peach cobbler, vanilla ice cream, and a bottle of wine. It’s Wednesday and Rose and I always meet for our movie nights and girl time on Wednesday.

Cole answered the door. He looked surprised to see me. “Rose is working late with Herbert,” he’d said.

“She is?” For some reason my heart dropped. Did she text me this?

I checked my phone and sure enough, there was a text in there from Rose twenty-ish minutes ago. I must’ve missed it while I was shopping for the food and wine.

“Oh my Godfrey. I feel so stupid.”

Cole flashed me a smile and I tried not to react to it. Even though I’d ghosted him, I couldn’t deny that Cole was attractive.

“Godfrey will never get old.” He chuckled. Then he invited me in.

I’m sitting here writing this because I shouldn’t have accepted his invitation. I should’ve just gone home. We ate some of the peach cobbler and I hoped Rose would turn up soon so the awkwardness would pass.

Eventually Cole offered to pour some of the wine I’d brought and said I was welcome to watch a movie on the sofa if I wanted to wait for Rose. He said he was going to catch up on some work emails.

I hesitated.

“You wouldn’t be a bother,” Cole said, smiling.

I told him sure. He popped some popcorn while I sat on the sofa with a blanket.

I sent a text to Rose and asked if she’d be home anytime soon.

She responded after Cole had brought me the popcorn and another glass of wine and said she’d be off in another hour.

She apologized for bailing at the last minute.

I told her it was okay, but if she wasn’t going to be here soon, I figured I needed to leave. We could catch up another time.

I let Cole know as much as he worked at the dining table.

He looked surprised to see that I was leaving.

He said something about how he was wrapping up on the emails and knew the perfect movie we could watch until Rose came home.

He was talking like we were a couple—like he didn’t have a freaking wife who was my best friend.

“I should go,” I kept saying as I slipped into my sneakers.

I grabbed my purse and keys, ready to leave. But before I could, Cole caught me by the elbow and spun me around. He kissed me. I snatched my mouth away and froze. And for some reason that I couldn’t understand at the time, I let him kiss me again. This time, I didn’t stop it.

“I miss you,” he whispered on my mouth. “I wish it was you.”

I swear it just happened. We started kissing. He cupped my face in his hands, and we made out against the door.

It felt wrong.

Dirty.

Deceitful.

But it also felt . . . good.

Rose would kill me. She’d never talk to me again if she knew. She was like a sister to me. It was so cruel of me. I didn’t stop him until my phone chimed with another text from her.

He looked at me. I looked at him. Then I told Cole I had to go. I ran out of the house with tears in my eyes. I wouldn’t let it happen again. It was a mistake. One I regret so, so much.