Chapter 6

Joanna clearly hadn't expected me to call her bluff and agree to a breakup. Her heart skipped, and she rushed to change the subject.

She said, "I was just saying that out of anger. Do you really have to take it so literally? You were way out of line today. Larry was literally in tears because you scared him. When you're discharged, you need to apologize. Got it?"

My eyes went cold. I slapped her hand away as she tried to feed me the chicken soup. "You want me to apologize to the guy who killed my mom? Not a chance."

Joanna's brows pinched together, irritation flashing across her face. "What are you even talking about? Your mom's fine. How could Larry possibly have anything to do with her dying?"

There was a noise at the door. At some point, Larry had shown up in the doorway. The fruit basket slipped from his hand, and the fruit rolled everywhere.

His eyes were red, and he looked wounded. "Callum, I came all this way with fruit to visit you because I didn't want any bad blood between us, and you're accusing me like that? You'd even curse your own mother just to ruin my reputation.

"If you hate me that much, I'll hand in my resignation later. I won't be in your way anymore, making things awkward between you and Jo."

He spun on his heel, looking upset. As he turned, he made sure the dried blood on his nose was visible.

Sure enough, Joanna's heart went out to him. She hurled the chicken soup all over me.

"Callum, Larry came here out of kindness, and you repay him by smearing him. When did you become this vicious? I'm not coming back for a while. You can stay here and think about what you've done.

"When you finally get your head on straight, and you're ready to apologize, that's when I'll forgive you and come pick you up!"

With that, she stood and ran after Larry.

I felt nothing as I watched her walk out on me for what had to be the 99th time. I just pulled out my phone and blocked and deleted every way she could reach me.

Then I swiftly got myself discharged from the hospital, grabbed my suitcase, and headed straight for the airport without looking back.

…

For the next month, Joanna ghosted me on purpose while going on dates with Larry.

A month later, right after they got back from their "honeymoon", she suddenly remembered I existed and dragged Larry with her to the courthouse to file for divorce.

He tried to stop her. "Jo, my parents are on my case to start planning the wedding. Can we put the divorce off a bit?"

She shut him down instantly. "We can't stall this any longer. I haven't heard a peep from Callum all month. That's not normal. He was already furious when I registered my marriage to you. If I break my promise again, he'll never forgive me."

Larry had no choice but to go through with the divorce.

The second she got the divorce certificate, Joanna texted me. "Callum, I'm divorced. I'll come pick you up from the hospital so we can go get married. I'm sure it'll cheer you and your mom up!"

But all she saw was a single gray tick.

"He's still really mad, huh?" she muttered.

Assuming I was still sulking, she hopped into her car and drove straight to the hospital. Larry tagged along.

The moment Joanna stepped inside, she went right up to the nurse's station and asked, "Hi, can you tell me which rooms my boyfriend, Callum Shore, and his mother, Gwen White, are in?"

The nurse frowned in confusion. "Gwen White? She passed away a while ago. As for Callum Shore, he got discharged a month ago and bought a plane ticket out of here. You didn't know?"