Chapter 2

Kelsey's POV

Tyler stiffened for a second, then laughed.

"Okay, okay. We'll break up. Whatever you say. Let me take you home."

He still didn't think I meant it.

Exhaustion settled over me, but I no longer had the energy to explain. "No. I'll get a cab."

Tyler wasn't offended by the rejection. He simply stood behind me and waited.

Then, Winona sent him a voice message.

"So? Did sleeping with me finally get through to Kelsey? If not, I'm happy to help you out a few more times. You're pretty good in bed, anyway."

The recording ended, and Tyler took his time replying.

"Kelsey's pissed at me right now. I need to stay with her, so I won't be needing you for a while."

Once he'd sent the message, he turned to me as though none of this were remotely strange.

"She's too intense in bed. It's not really my thing. I still like you best, babe."

He was trying to make me feel better.

Ever since Tyler realized that seeing him get intimate with Winona made me withdraw, he'd started comparing us constantly.

Winona cooked better than I did; she had a better body, and even her hands were prettier than mine.

But this was the only time he'd ever said he preferred me to Winona.

Strangely, it didn't make me happy. Instead, a heavy, sick feeling settled in my stomach.

"I don't want to hear about what the two of you do in bed," I retorted.

Tyler laughed. "Are you jealous?"

I shook my head.

I wasn't jealous. I just didn't care anymore.

My cab pulled up a few minutes later.

Once I got in, I noticed Tyler's car following us, and a message popped up on my phone.

"Technically, I'm still making sure you get home."

I read it once, then turned off my phone.

In the past, the smallest gesture from Tyler had been enough to make me soften toward him, but that wouldn't happen again.

When I got home, Mom saw that I'd come back alone.

She didn't ask what happened. Instead, she simply followed me into my room and quietly helped me pack.

"Do you still want this ring?" she asked.

I went silent for a moment.

"No."

I'd made that ring myself the first time I proposed to Tyler.

He took it, but he didn't accept my proposal. He never wore the ring, either.

"I'm still young. I don't want marriage tying me down yet," he'd said. "And don't ever do something like that again. You put me on the spot in front of all those people. It was embarrassing."

The next morning, I'd found the ring in the trash.

I picked it out and brought it home because I was convinced that one day Tyler would finally want to wear it.

I'd been ridiculously naive.

Once I finished packing, I lay down on my bed and slowly drifted off.

I wasn't sad. In fact, I didn't feel much of anything.

Early the next morning, someone knocked on the front door. When I opened it, Tyler and Winona were standing there.

"Babe, what took you so long?" Tyler asked. "We've been out here forever."

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

Winona smiled and lifted the takeout bag in her hand.

"Obviously, we came to make it up to you."

Tyler nodded. "You love the pastries from this place, don't you? I went out of my way to pick some up."

Before I could stop her, Winona slipped past me and walked into the living room.

As she passed, I caught the same fragrance on both of them.

She opened the boxes and spread the pastries across the table.

"Kelsey, I'll give you one thing. You have good taste. Tyler and I have gone to this place so many times that I'm honestly sick of it," she said. "But you don't get it very often, so you'll probably still love it. Come eat."

Tyler used to say that bringing me breakfast felt too intimate.

According to him, doing things like that would only make me fall harder for him, so he'd never once brought me breakfast.

Yet, he and Winona had been to this place together so many times that she was already sick of it.