Chapter 3
The door opened an inch and caught on the deadbolt.
"Piper." Liam's voice was closer now, desperate. "Please. Just let me in."
I could see him through the gap. His face was pale, his eyes red-rimmed as if he'd been crying. Or maybe he'd just rubbed his eyes to make it look like he had.
"I need to talk to you," he said. "Please, baby. Just open the door."
Baby.
He'd called Jenna baby too, probably. Whispered it against her neck while his hands slid under her shirt.
"Piper, please."
I walked to the door, each step deliberate.
He saw me coming and something like relief flooded his face. "Thank you. Thank you, I just need five minutes to—"
"How long?" I asked.
His mouth snapped shut.
"How long, Liam?"
"Can we… can we not do this through the door? Please. Just let me come inside and we can sit down and talk like—"
"How long?"
He closed his eyes. "Piper—"
"Answer the question or leave."
There was a long silence. I could hear him breathing. Could hear someone walking down the hallway outside, keys jingling. A door opened and closed somewhere. The building settling around us, as if even it was bracing for what came next.
"Since March," he said finally.
March.
The word hung in the air between us, heavy and sharp.
March.
That’s when I’d started testing cake flavors.
Vanilla bean and lemon and champagne-raspberry.
I'd made him try all of them, watched him deliberate like it actually mattered which one we chose.
He'd pulled me into his lap and kissed buttercream off my lips and said he didn't care about the cake, he just wanted to marry me.
That was March.
"Say something," Liam said. "Please."
"We picked out invitations in March."
"I know—"
"I ordered your wedding band. We had your parents over for dinner. Your mom showed me her dress."
"Piper—"
"You texted me during parent-teacher conferences." My voice was steady. "You sent me a photo of a Sacramento sunset, then said you wished I was there to see it."
He didn't say anything.
"Was she there?" I asked. "When you took that photo?"
Silence.
"Was she there, Liam?"
"Yes." His voice was barely a whisper.
Something cracked inside my chest. Not my heart… no, that had already broken. It was something else. Something that had been holding me together.
I unlocked the deadbolt.
The door swung open and Liam stumbled forward, catching himself on the doorframe. "Thank you," he breathed. "Thank you, I just need to explain—"
"Get out."
He froze. "What?"
"Get your shit," I said, "and get out."
"Piper, no, just listen to me for one second—"
"I don't want to listen." My hands were shaking again, so I pressed them against my thighs. "I don't want to hear about how it was a mistake or how you're sorry or how it didn't mean anything. I want you to pack your things and leave."
"It didn't mean anything," he said anyway. "I swear to God, Piper, she doesn’t… you're the one I love. You're the one I want to marry."
"You don't get to say that to me." My voice cracked. "You don't get to stand here and tell me you love me when you've been fucking someone else for months."
"I wasn’t… we… we didn't—"
"Don't." I held up a hand. "Don't you dare try to tell me what I saw."
"Okay." He ran his hands through his dark blond hair, the same gesture he always made when he was stressed. "Okay. You're right. I'm not going to lie to you anymore. But Piper, please, I made a mistake. A huge, terrible mistake, but we can fix this. We can go to counseling, we can—"
"Get. Out."
"This is my home too." His voice shifted. Harder now. "I'm on the lease, Piper. You can't just kick me out."
I stared at him.
He was pulling the lease card. Actually standing here, reeking of guilt and another woman's perfume, and pulling the lease card.
"You want to stay here?" I asked.
"I want us to work this out."
"You want to stay in this apartment?”
"That's not what I—"
"Fine," I said.
"Fine what?"
I turned and walked toward the bedroom. "Keep it."
"Piper, what are you—"
I grabbed my duffel bag from the closet and started throwing things into it. Underwear. Bras. T-shirts. My hands were shaking so badly I kept dropping things.
"What are you doing?" Liam appeared in the doorway. "Piper, stop."
I shoved past him to the dresser. Grabbed jeans, leggings, a sweater. I didn't even bother folding any of it, just stuffed it all into the bag.
"You can't just leave," he said. "We need to talk about this."
"Move."
"No." He planted himself in front of the closet. "Not until you calm down and listen to me."
"Calm down?" I looked at him, the man I'd been planning to spend my life with. "You want me to calm down."
"This isn’t… God, Piper, you're not thinking clearly.”
"I'm thinking very clearly." I zipped the duffel bag. "You cheated on me. While I planned our wedding. While I baked you cakes and folded your laundry and told my second-graders about how I was getting married to the best man in the world."
His face crumpled. "Piper—"
"You want the apartment?" I slung the bag over my shoulder. "It's yours. Enjoy it."
"Where are you going?"
"Anywhere that isn't here."
"This is insane," he said. "You're being insane."
I pushed past him. He grabbed my arm and I jerked away so hard I stumbled.
"Don't touch me."
"Piper, please—"
I walked to the kitchen, grabbed my purse and my phone and my laptop. The duffel bag was cutting into my shoulder but I didn't care. I just needed to get out and breathe air that didn't smell like him.
Liam followed me to the door. "You can't just walk away from this. From us. What about the wedding?"
I stopped and turned around.
"What about it?" I asked.
"We have two hundred people coming. We have deposits. We have—"
"Cancel it."
"Piper—"
"Or don't. I don't care. Marry Jenna if you want. I'm done."
I opened the door and walked out.