Chapter 2
Andre’s warning made the decision for me.
I looked straight at Marcus.
“We slept together three weeks ago,” I said. “Once. After the party at Serena’s cousin’s house.”
Serena made a small sound. I could not tell whether it was anger or pain.
Marcus asked, “Was I there?”
“You went home early. We had argued.”
He took one step back from me.
“And afterward?” Serena asked.
I faced her. “We exchanged messages. I met Andre last Thursday to end it. He kissed me when I left. I let him.”
Andre dragged a hand across his mouth.
“You said you weren’t counting that,” he muttered.
Marcus gave a hollow laugh. “Counting?”
“I’m sorry,” I told him.
He shook his head. “I don’t want that word right now.”
Serena leaned against the wall. Her eyes were fixed on Andre.
“Last Thursday,” she repeated. “You told me you were helping your brother move.”
Andre said nothing.
I watched another piece of her trust fall away.
A server approached the hallway. Marcus asked her to leave our meals on the table and bring the check. His voice sounded calm. That frightened me more than shouting would have.
Serena turned and walked into the dining room. Andre followed her.
I started after them, but Marcus stopped me with a glance.
“I need the apartment to myself tonight,” he said.
“We can talk at home.”
“I can’t go home with you.”
I felt the words like a door closing. “Where should I go?”
“I don’t know.”
He passed me and went to settle the bill.
I remained in the hallway until the server came back with my coat. I had been too shaken to remember it. She handed it to me without a question, and I was grateful.
Outside, Serena stood under the awning. Andre was pleading with her beside a waiting car.
“Tell her the whole thing,” I said to him.
He turned. “I did.”
“No. You told her as much as you had to.”
Serena looked between us. “Is there more?”
Andre’s face tightened. “Nia, enough.”
“There were messages,” I said. “He asked to meet me twice before Thursday. I refused.”
Serena stared at him. “You told me she kept calling you.”
I felt cold despite my coat.
“I never called him.”
Andre looked at Marcus, who had just come through the restaurant door.
“This is getting twisted,” Andre said.
Marcus walked past him. “Get out of my way.”
Andre stepped aside.
I watched Marcus head down the sidewalk. I wanted to run after him. I wanted to tell him I had not planned any of this, that I loved him, that I was terrified.
Every sentence began with what I wanted.
I let him go.
I called my older sister, Imani, from the curb. She arrived twenty minutes later and found me sitting on a low stone wall.
When I got into her car, she looked at my face.
“What happened?”
“I cheated on Marcus.”
Her hands stayed on the steering wheel. “Tell me.”
I told her everything. She listened without interrupting. When I finished, she pulled into traffic.
“Can I stay with you?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t expect you to tell me it’s okay.”
“Good,” she said. “Because it isn’t.”
I turned toward the window.
After a moment, she added, “You can still come home with me.”
At her apartment, I borrowed a T-shirt and sat on the edge of the guest bed. Marcus texted shortly after midnight.
I’m home. Please give me space. We’ll talk tomorrow.
I read it several times. Then I wrote back.
I will. I’m at Imani’s. I’m sorry I hurt you.
I put my phone down.
It lit up again almost at once.
Andre.
You made me look like I chased you.
I ignored it.
Another message arrived.
Serena left. She won’t answer. Call me.
I blocked him. Then I lay awake until morning, hearing his voice in the hallway and Marcus’s quieter one beneath it.
At nine, Marcus called.
I sat upright. “Hi.”
“Can you come to the apartment at noon?”
“Yes.”
“Imani can bring you. I’d rather she waited downstairs.”
“Okay.”
He paused. “I found out Serena’s staying with her mother.”
“How?”
“She called me last night.”
I gripped the blanket.
“She asked whether there was anything else I’d heard,” he said. “I told her what you said.”
“Thank you.”
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“I know.”
At noon, Imani drove me over. She squeezed my hand once before I got out.
Marcus opened the apartment door. He had taken down the photograph of us that normally sat by the entryway. Its empty place on the shelf was the first thing I noticed.
He saw me looking at it.
“I couldn’t stand seeing us smile,” he said.
I stepped inside.
Two mugs sat on the kitchen counter. He had made coffee, though he had not poured any.
May you like
He sat across from me at the table.
“I need you to answer every question,” he said. “Even if the answer ends us.”
