He Terminated My Lease So I Terminated Our Wedding Chapter 12
Three years later, Mateo and I returned to Boston to finalize the paperwork on an old property.
When we left the law office, heavy snow was burying the street. We were stopped at a red light when I saw a man crouched in the snow through the car window.
It was Owen. He’d grown so thin he seemed to rattle inside his worn coat. Cradled in his arms was a cupcake, its frosting gone damp with snow. On his phone screen was the profile picture from an old account of mine that no longer existed.
“Happy birthday, Lila.”
He spoke softly to the screen. “I promise, I’ll never bet again.”
Cass came around the corner, still in her convenience store uniform. Her hands were red with cold, and her face was a mask of exhaustion.
“Get up.” She tugged at Owen’s arm. “Don’t freeze yourself into the hospital again.”
Owen violently shook her off.
“Get away from me! If you hadn’t suggested that island, she never would have left!”
Cass stumbled back, then finally broke.
“If you hadn’t locked her in the closet at the foster home, she wouldn’t have been so afraid! You’re the one who said she’d always forgive us! You’re the one who had to keep betting until the very end!”
There in the wind and snow, they hurled the same accusations at each other, over and over.
Inside the car, the heat was running high.
Mateo never looked at them. He only asked softly, “Do you want me to drive closer?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
The light turned green. Mateo lifted his foot from the brake.
The engine hummed, and the car rolled forward.
Owen suddenly looked up in our direction. He stared through the window, then took an uncertain step forward.
“Lila?”