The turkey was still warm when Evan Carter carried his suitcase through the dining room, and for the first time in eight years, I didn’t ask him to stay. I had spent all morning cooking the Thanksgiving dinner he claimed he loved—the sage stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce from my mother’s old recipe, and the pecan pie he always stole a slice from before dessert. But when he said Rachel needed him, something inside me became so quiet that even I didn’t recognize myself.
Chapter 3
Evan came home around noon and found me eating takeout at the kitchen table. Normally, he would have lectured me about sodium and processed food. Instead, he sat across from me.
“You wouldn’t believe how exhausting last night was. Rachel kept getting sick.”
“Then you must be tired.”
His expression tightened, as though my kindness frightened him more than anger would have.
After a moment, he said, “Mark and Jenna are having their engagement dinner tomorrow. Come with me.”
I almost dropped my fork.
Evan had never wanted me at gatherings with that group. Rachel usually went in my place.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I have immigration paperwork.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“You have the engagement dinner.”
“We’ll do your paperwork first.”
The next morning, Evan made breakfast. He played the music I liked in the car and kept trying to start conversations, behaving like a man auditioning for the role of my boyfriend after holding the job for eight years.
Then Rachel called.
“I’m ready,” she announced through the speakers. “Come get me.”
Evan glanced at me. “Take a cab.”
Silence.
“What?”
“I’m busy.”
“But you always pick me up.”
“I said get a cab, Rachel.”
I watched him carefully. It was the first time I had ever heard him refuse her.
Rachel’s voice softened. “You know cabs take forever near my place. If you won’t come, I guess I’ll walk.”
Evan’s fingers tightened on the steering wheel.
I knew what would happen next because it had happened countless times before. He would tell me I was independent, drop me at the nearest convenient corner, then drive across town to rescue Rachel.
“Go get her,” I said.
His head snapped toward me. “What about you?”
“I’ll call a rideshare.”
“No. I’ll take you first.”
“You’ll be late.”
I pointed toward the curb.
After a long hesitation, he pulled over.
As I opened the door, he said, “I’ll be home early tonight.”
“Have fun.”
His car disappeared into traffic.
I finished my paperwork alone. Five days remained until my flight.
That evening, someone posted a video from Mark and Jenna’s engagement dinner. After the newly engaged couple kissed, one of Evan’s friends pointed at him and Rachel.
“You’re next, man. The right woman has been standing beside you all along.”
People laughed.
Rachel blushed.
Evan didn’t.
He kept looking at his phone.
A minute later, he texted me.
You saw that video, didn’t you? They were joking. Don’t get upset.
I wrote back: I know. I’m not upset.
He didn’t come home until nearly noon the next day.
His first question wasn’t whether I was angry.
“When exactly are you leaving?”
“Monday.”
He stared at me. “We need to talk.”
“About what?”
“This. Whatever this is.”
I waited.
He rubbed both hands over his face. “I can’t stand you being this indifferent.”
The irony was almost breathtaking.
“You spent years asking me to stop being jealous.”
“I know.”
“You told me I was controlling.”
“I know.”
“You wanted freedom.”
“I know.”
“Now you have it.”
His eyes were red. “Is this because of Rachel?”
I didn’t answer.
“If she bothers you that much, I’ll stop seeing her.”
I looked at him in genuine surprise.
For years, I had begged him for boundaries. I had cried, argued, threatened to leave, and finally apologized for asking. Every time, he had chosen Rachel’s feelings over mine.
Now that I no longer cared, he was offering everything.
“I don’t need you to do that.”
“I’ll prove it.”
He called Rachel before I could stop him and put the phone on speaker.
Her voice came through bright and teasing. “Well, look who finally missed me.”
Evan’s face flushed.
“Rachel, stop.”
She laughed. “What’s wrong with you?”
“We need some distance.”
“What?”
“I’m in a relationship. The way we’ve been acting isn’t appropriate.”
There was a long silence. Then Rachel’s tone changed.
“Oh, please. Is Claire throwing another tantrum? That woman doesn’t have a life of her own, so she hates that you do.”
Evan’s face went dark.
“Enough.”
“I’m just saying what everybody thinks.”
“No. You’re saying what I allowed you to think.”
That sentence surprised both of us.
Evan took a breath. “Claire is my girlfriend. You don’t get to disrespect her. Don’t call me anymore.”
He hung up.
Rachel called back immediately.
He declined.
Then again.
He turned the phone off.
“See?” he whispered. “It’s done.”
I wished I felt triumphant. Instead, I felt tired.
“I don’t need you to wait for me when I leave.”
“I will.”
“Evan—”
“I’ll wait two years. Three. However long.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
Something in my voice made him freeze.
I looked directly at him. “I think we should break up.”
Before I finished the sentence, Evan covered my mouth with his hand as though stopping the words could stop reality.
His eyes filled with tears.
I had never seen Evan cry.
“Don’t,” he whispered.
I gently moved his hand.
“Claire, I’ll come with you.”
“You can’t.”
“I can. I’ll leave my job. I’ll figure something out in London.”
“Your whole life is here.”
“I don’t care.”
“But I do.”
He wrapped his arms around me, and his tears soaked through the shoulder of my blouse.
“For you, I’ll give it all up.”
There was a time when those words would have been everything I wanted.
Now they had arrived years too late.
I pushed him back.
“Evan, listen to me. You don’t love me because you suddenly discovered how valuable I am. You’re terrified because I’ve stopped orbiting you.”
“That’s not true.”
“Maybe not completely. But when I wanted a life with you, you treated my love like an inconvenience.”
“I can change.”
“I believe you.”
That seemed to give him hope.
I shook my head. “But I don’t have to stay while you do.”
He started crying harder.
“No. I don’t accept this.”
“A breakup doesn’t require two votes.”
He grabbed my shoulders. “I’ll spend every holiday with you. I’ll come straight home. I’ll introduce you to everyone as the woman I love. I’ll never see Rachel again.”
I removed his hands.
“You once told me you didn’t want to account for every minute of your life to another person.”
“I was an idiot.”
“Maybe. But here’s the freedom you kept asking for.”
He looked at me as if freedom had become the cruelest word in the English language.
“We don’t have to end like this.”
“We already did,” I said softly. “We just didn’t notice when it happened.”
