Page 126 of Only Be Mine

The call ended.

I lowered the phone into my lap and stared at the dark screen.

The kitchen was silent again. No buzzing. No voices. Just the hum of the refrigerator and the sound of my own breathing, uneven and wrong.

I stayed there on the floor, knees pulled to my chest, the phone resting uselessly in my hand.

The honeymoon was over.

And the life I’d thought I was leaving behind had found me anyway.

Chapter 45

Cate

Present

Idon’t know how long I sat there.

The kitchen light stayed on. The floor stayed cold beneath me. At some point, my breathing evened out - not because I felt better, but because my body ran out of ways to panic.

Eventually, I pushed myself up and moved to the sink. I rinsed the sticky soda from the towel and wrung it out, my hands steady now in that detached, hollow way that came after crying. I left the towel draped over the counter and leaned there, staring at nothing.

My phone stayed quiet.

I wasn’t ready to move.

I wasn’t ready to decide what came next.

The sound of a car door closing outside startled me.

I froze, my pulse spiking as footsteps approached the front door. A key slid into the lock and a moment later Trevor stepped inside like nothing was wrong.

“Hey,” he said easily, shrugging out of his jacket. “You didn’t answer when I called, so I figured I’d come check on you.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I never even noticed my phone ringing.

“Oh, and I took the day off,” he added, glancing at his watch. “Thought we could grab breakfast. Ease back into real life.”

He smiled at me - the same warm, familiar smile from the honeymoon. The one that had made everything feel simple.

I glanced past him, toward the front window.

A familiar truck slowed at the corner of the street before rolling to a stop. My pulse kicked up sharply as I recognized it.

Seth.

He hadn’t seen me yet.

Trevor followed my gaze, but the truck was already moving again, disappearing down the block.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said quickly. Too quickly. “I just thought I heard something.”

Seth would circle back. Or knock. Or call again.

I told myself that.