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Chapter Twenty-Six
Elijah
I’ve been out running since six thirty in the morning. I don’t usually power out a two-hour run on a Sunday morning, but I didn’t want to be there when Tori woke up and left. Having her back in what used to be our apartment felt totally wrong. Not just because of it being a space I’d spent a lot of time reclaiming away from her. It was also because of Dylan.
It was Dylan’s perfume I wanted to smell when I rolled to her side of the bed. It was her socks I wanted to complain about laying all around the couch. I wanted it to only have her mark. But I couldn’t let Tori leave last night in the condition she was in.
The type of drinking she’d been doing; I didn’t trust a cabbie to make sure she got home alright. Now this morning, mostly sober, she can take that cab or rideshare and it will be over. I slide my key in the lock and open the door. The smell of eggs and bacon hit me instantly.
She’s got my dining table set for two, classical music playing softly on the speakers, and one of my flower pots as acenterpiece. “Hi,” she says, setting my plate on the table. “I even had them send us a paper like we used to.”
“What… what is all this?”
“It’s breakfast, Eli. Our normal Sunday breakfast.”
“Victoria, there’s no moreournormal anything. It’s nice you wanted to make me breakfast as a thank-you for the inconvenience but…”
“Inconvenience? Is that what I am now?” she responds.
“Victoria, we’re divorced. We’ve been apart for nearly three years. You’ve… moved on. I’m sorry things went south for you last night, but I’ve finally got my shit together after what you put me through.”
“You’re blaming me?” she screams.
“Tori, facts are facts. Blame won’t help anyone. It took the help of several good friends, my family, and a beautiful woman to find me again. I don’t want to go back in time. I don’t.”
Tori takes a couple steps back. “Does it matter what I want?”
“Of course, it matters. It should matter to you. I want happiness for you. It’s just we will never be us again. I want more for myself.”
Five words. Five simple words it’s taken me years to say to her.
“Who is she?” Tori asks.
“It’s really none of your concern. Dylan has nothing to do with you.”
“Dylan. The tiny blonde from last night?”
“I don’t want to discuss her with you.”
“I don’t think you’ll need to discuss this with her either. She’s seen it. She knows the score.”
My heart roller coasters from my throat to my stomach and back up again. “What do you mean, Tori?” I allow my voice to rise. “Answer me.”
“She was here about half an hour ago. She was looking for you. She got the hint.”
I stalk toward Tori, praying I can keep calm. “What did you say?”
“I said that you were out for a run and…”
“And what?” I growl.
“I said I was your wife. Technically that’s not a lie. She saw the remnants of last night in the front hall.”
“Fucking Christ!” I tear off through the apartment, tossing all of her clothes from last night off the floor and into her arms. “I bet you were all too happy to let her think we fucked too. Goddammit. What must she think? You need to gonow. I’m going to find her.”
Tori stands there in the middle of my apartment as I blow past her to pull on my jeans and boots. She finally looks around at what was once where she lived. I can finally see her eyes register that everything is very different.
“Even after I came home to findyouin this place, in our bed, withhim, I neveroncesaid I hated you. I neveroncewished anything bad for you. How could you fuck me over again?”
