Page 67 of The Other Plan

“We have nothing left to say. You made your choice, and I made mine. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d prefer to be left alone.”

It didn’t even pain me to see her. There was no longing on my end, especially now that Jenna was back in my life. I’d been devastated when Camilla had cheated but also relieved. Deep down, I’d always known she wasn’t the right woman for me, but I’d gone so far down the wrong path, I hadn’t seen any way back. Then she’d gone and done what she’d done, opening an emergency exit so I could launch myself out. And it had felt good when I’d done it.

“You can’t ignore me forever, Carter. We were supposed to be married. We deserve a talk. A real talk. One where you’re not fuming with rage.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

She shrunk back a little. “Valid rage. But we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. We don’t just give up when we hit one bump in the road.”

“One bump in the road?” My eyes widened. “You screwed another dude! That’s not a bump in the road. That’s a fucking mountain. That’s not some little bump we’re going over. And we did talk. You begged for forgiveness. I told you we’re over and to stay out of my life. No further talking required. We can be civil if we happen to run into each other. We’re both adults, but there won’t be any more discussion.”

“Carter, we can’t give up so easily. I know what I did was horrible. Unforgivable. But you have to forgive me anyway. You can’t throw away what we have without trying to fight for us. We’ll go to therapy. Take a vacation. I’ll do anything, anything, to win you back. I love you, Carter. I’ll always love you.”

“It’s done, Camilla. For good. We can’t go backward in time, and I can’t honor my values by moving forward with you.”

“Carter. I know I messed up—”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Camilla. It’s over. We are over. I don’t know how else to say it so you’ll understand and accept the message.”

She reached for me. “We can’t be over, Carter. I know deep down you still love me.”

The face of the woman I truly loved popped into my mind, and it wasn’t Camilla’s. I finally knew the words I could say that would hopefully end her attempts to reconnect our failed relationship.

“I found someone else, Camilla,” I spit out, and it felt good to say it. “Someone I really care about. Someone who would never, ever betray me or what we build together.”

The shocked look on her face should have caused me joy, but deep down, I felt bad I’d hurt her. Not that I should after what she’d done to me, but still... I wasn’t an asshole.

“What?” she breathed. “You met someone else?”

Exhaling a sigh, I lifted a shoulder and dropped it. “I’m not going to talk to you about this, but yeah. I’ve got someone else now. In fact, I should be thanking you for doing what you did to me so that I could find my way back to her. She’s the one for me. Always has been, always will be. So, we’re over, Camilla, and it’s time to accept that. I know that hurts you and that it might be hard to get over. It will take time, but you need to move on with your life and get out of mine.”

“So... that’s it? We’re done? You met someone else, and we’re over?”

“Yes,” I breathed out a relieved sigh, finally feeling that heavy weight lifting from my shoulders. “I hope you find your own happiness like I’ve found mine.”

She sucked her glossed lip between her teeth and nodded slowly. “Okay. I, uh, I understand. I guess... I guess I’ll just see you around the office building.”

“Yes. I’ll see you when you visit your dad.”

“Well,” she said, her gaze dropping to the ground. “That was the, uh, the other thing I was going to tell you tonight.”

I scrunched my brow.

“Daddy is helping me start my own PR company, and he’s giving me an office in his building. I guess we’ll be seeing each other around the workplace most days.”

I swallowed my internal groan. Great. Just what I needed. It was one thing to see her from a distance every now and again, but it was another thing entirely to see her around the office every day. Even though she seemed to be accepting our relationship was over now, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t ever try again. Camilla had a knack for not letting go until she got her way, and until her sights moved on to someone else, I knew I was in for a rocky road ahead.

“Oh,” I answered. “Well, that’s... surprising.”

“I hope it won’t be too weird seeing me all the time?” Her eyes lifted from the ground, and that little bit of hope I’d thought was gone still fluttered inside them.

“We’ll just keep our distance if that’s okay with you. You do your thing, and I’ll do mine.”

“Yeah. Of course. Sure. I’ll try to stay out of your way.”

The lie settled into her eyes. She may have conceded tonight’s battle, but for Camilla, the war waged on.

Not wanting to spend another minute talking to her or thinking about what life would be like dealing with her every day, I heaved a sigh when my Uber pulled up.