ChapterOne
I slammedthe hatch of my trunk down, praying to anyone listening that the stupid thing closed. I knew I’d overdone it with packing, but I wanted to get all of my things into my car so that I didn’t have to come back here.
“Amelia, please! Just hold on a sec,” Noah pleaded, reaching out to grab my hand. I yanked it away from his reach and marched back up the walkway and through his front door. I had one last bag of clothes and a box of books to get, and I hoped like hell they’d fit in the car.
I made it back into the main bedroom—the room Noah and I had shared for the last eight months—and decided to check the spacious walk-in closet one last time. Anything left behind I knew I would never get back. Not that Noah would refuse to; I just never planned on talking to him again after today.
After taking one last look through all the clothes, I was satisfied that I hadn’t missed anything of mine. I went back to the large black duffle bag that was overflowing on the floor by the bed and worked to zip it closed before swinging it over my shoulder. With the weight against my back, I realized it was going to be difficult to pick up the heavy box of books in the living room.I’ve got this. Almost there.
Taking a deep breath, I walked down the hallway toward the living room, eyeing the brown cardboard box in the middle of the floor. I’d hastily thrown all my books from Noah’s bookshelf into an old box I’d found in the garage. It definitely wasn’t my finest packing—the books were overflowing from the top of the box in total disarray—but I’d been in a rush. I just needed to get everything to my brother’s, and then I could exhale.
The straps from the heavy duffle bag on my back were digging painfully into my shoulder. I quickly readjusted it, and then did my best to squat down with a straight back so that I could pick up the box without straining a muscle. I tucked my fingers under the sides and almost dropped everything halfway up, but managed to get into a standing position, albeit a precarious one.
Pleased with myself, I blew a piece of loose hair out of my face and began taking steps back toward the front door and out to my car. I could see Noah standing out in the front yard with his hands on his head, waiting for me. I swiftly averted my eyes and, as confidently as possible, walked right past him to my car.
“Amelia. Stop. Just listen to me,please.” His voice cracked on that last word. Pathetic.
I tuned him out as I used my body to wedge the box between myself and my car, freeing my hand to open the back passenger side door and moving to set it down on the backseat.
I contemplated buckling it into the seat belt to keep paperbacks from flying around as I drove, but then realized that Noah would see. He’d always hated my book collection—“stupid romance novels'' he'd called them—and I didn’t want to give him the gratification of seeing me baby them.
Actually. Fuck that.
I pulled the strap down so that the lap belt sat across the box and clicked the buckle into place.There. Satisfaction swelled inside of me.
Now I just needed to figure out where to fit this duffle bag. My car was already packed full of my belongings. Everything I owned in the world.
I’d moved into Noah’s house eight months ago after dating him for two years, and had justfinallystarted feeling like I was settling in. His charming three-bedroom bungalow in the suburbs had felt so grown-up, so mature, and I’d been excited to take this next step in our lives together.
That was, until I walked in on him and some platinum-blonde girl last night when I came home early from work. They’d been on the couch watching a movie together, with his pants pulled down around his thighs and her mouth on his cheating dick.
Swinging the duffle bag down off of my shoulder, I moved to the passenger side of the car hoping I could get the monstrosity to fit in the front. A tub of all my toiletries already sat in the front seat, but I figured that I could Tetris it on top of the tub and it would hopefully balance and stay put.
It did not, in fact, stay put. Instead, over it went to the other side, toppling into the driver’s seat.
Well, I guess I’ll just have to try to sit under it.
Shutting the car door and walking back around to the driver’s side, Noah launched himself in front of me. I avoided looking into his eyes, setting my sight on a neighbor’s rose bush in the distance instead as I expelled a quick breath of air in annoyance.
“Amelia. You’re acting so immature right now.” His tone was condescending, as if I were a child throwing a tantrum in the middle of a crowded grocery store. “Just talk to me. I know we can work through this.”
I told myself over and over last night that any confrontation wasn’t going to be worth it. He’d already ruined our relationship beyond repair, and at this point there was nothing else to say or do except leave. But callingmeimmature?
I flicked my eyes to his face and looked at him with as much intensity as I could muster. It was the first time I let myself actually look at him since I’d walked in on him last night. I didn’t recognize him anymore. In ten short hours, the man that I’d been in love with was gone, replaced with a swollen-faced loser with bags under his eyes.
His hair stuck up at odd angles and his shirt was crumpled. I guess that couch probably wasn’t the most comfortable for him to sleep on all night, but he’d had no choice after I locked him out of the bedroom. “Excuse me?I’mimmature?! Coming from the guy who couldn’t keep his dick in his pants, acting like a horny sixteen-year-old!” I scoffed. “Get out of my way, Noah. I’m done with you.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Fine. You know what? Have it your way. You want to leave all of this behind”—he motioned his arm toward his house—“go ahead.”
Arrogant bastard.
“Great, thanks,” I said, shaking my head and pushing past him to get into my car.
Noah abruptly ran in front of the car then and threw his hands down on the hood, as if to stop the car from moving. “Amelia,” he yelled, “wait! Give me another chance!” I rolled my eyes before shifting the car in reverse and stomping on the gas. Noah must have been leaning most of his weight on the car, because as it moved backward he lost his footing and fell into the street. His face immediately turned red and his eyes bulged. He never did well with his embarrassment. Seeing him like this filled me with so much pleasure, I almost smiled.
Before he had a chance to get back up on his feet, I shifted the car into drive, maneuvered around him, and got the hell out of there.
Twenty-five minutes later,I pulled my car into Adam’s lot. The apartment building that he lived in was in a ritzier part of town, and the building amenities included an underground parking garage for residents and a friendly doorman named Charlie. It wasnice, as my mother would say. Perks of being a surgeon.
