Chapter 5

Caleb took the paper and started to look it over.

Yara's eyes were quicker. She shot me a surprised glance, then casually covered most of the page with her hand.

"Caleb, just sign it. Yvette's asking for a raise."

He didn't question her for a second. He scribbled his signature across the bottom and handed the paper back to me.

"Yvette, your mom's condition is expensive to manage. The medical bills aren't going to stop, so you're going to have to work harder from now on."

His tone was polite, detached, almost corporate.

I stared at his signature, not knowing what I was supposed to feel.

I made only three thousand dollars a month. Out of that, I helped pay Caleb's mortgage and covered our everyday household expenses. I picked up side jobs on top of all the overtime I worked, surviving on three or four hours of sleep a night. Most days, I was so broke I wouldn't even let myself buy a lemonade.

Yet Caleb had always refused to promote me or give me a raise. He said people would accuse him of favoritism.

Apparently, all it took to get me one was a single sentence from Yara.

I turned around and took the signed resignation letter back to HR.

The HR manager, Megan Zimmerman, nodded and promised to push the paperwork through as quickly as possible.

After that, I went straight to the bank and canceled the automatic payments I'd been making toward Caleb's mortgage every month.

That night, Caleb didn't come home.

For once, he actually told me where he was going. Yara's parents supposedly weren't feeling well after traveling, and as Yara's boss, he said it was only right that he look after them.

I glanced at Yara's social media, where both of her parents looked positively radiant, and didn't bother calling him out.

It was probably for the best.

If Caleb and I had to sleep under the same roof, I doubted I'd get through the night without nightmares.

The next day was a Saturday.

I held a small funeral for my mother, with only a few of my closest friends there, all people I'd known since college.

That evening, we stayed together for a farewell dinner.

After all, once I left the country, there was a good chance I would never come back.

Not long after we sat down in the private dining room, one of my old college roommates, Rachel Brooks, excused herself to use the restroom.

She was gone for more than ten minutes. I was just about to go look for her when the door swung open, and she came in grinning.

"Yvette, your boyfriend isn't working late at all! I just ran into him, so I dragged him over to eat with us."

The door opened wider.

Caleb stood there, tall and imposing, his expression cold as he looked at me.

Then Yara poked her head out from beside him and waved.

"Yvette, you had a whole get-together without inviting Caleb? You guys aren't sitting around bad-mouthing him, are you?"

Caleb hadn't shown up for my mother's funeral that day.

My other friends were all adults. They could tell something was wrong, but none of them had asked.

Only Rachel, who had never been particularly good at reading a room, had pressed me about where he was.

I'd brushed her off by saying he was working.

I hadn't expected her to run into him and bring him straight back with her.

Everyone around the table exchanged looks, their hands disappearing beneath it.

Our group chat immediately started blowing up.

[Who's the woman with Caleb? Something feels off.]

[Yvette, is that the Yara you've mentioned before?]

[Seriously? Has Caleb lost his mind? He actually brought her here in front of all of us?]

Rachel was oblivious to the tension.

"Caleb, sit down! Yvette only has you. When are you two finally getting married? Give us a real answer already."

The friend sitting next to her immediately elbowed her and shot her a warning look.

She blinked back, completely confused.

Caleb gave a cold snort, then pulled Yara over to the two empty seats directly across from me.

Something dark churned in his eyes.

"Yvette, you went to all this trouble to find out where Yara and I were eating, then secretly gathered all these people here just to pressure me into marriage?"

This was the restaurant Caleb and I had been coming to since we first started dating. Without ever needing to say it aloud, we'd agreed that this was our place. Neither of us brought outsiders here.

I genuinely hadn't known he would bring Yara.

"It's just a coincidence," I said, too tired to argue.

With everyone else there, I didn't want to make a scene. I simply treated the two uninvited guests as though they weren't there.

Yara, however, apparently couldn't stand not being the center of attention.

She nudged Caleb's arm.

"Caleb, I want shrimp. You're so good with your hands. Peel some for me?"

My roommate laughed.

"Girl, you don't know Caleb. He's a clean freak. He never peels shrimp for anyone..."

Her voice died away.

Right in front of us, Caleb calmly picked several shrimp onto his plate and began peeling them with his bare hands.

Years ago, when we'd first made our relationship official to this group of friends, we'd gone out to a casual seafood place to celebrate.

Everyone had teased Caleb and told him to peel a shrimp and feed it to me.

He'd immediately gone cold, saying it was messy and unhygienic.

Now Yara opened her mouth on purpose.

"Ahh..."

Without hesitation, Caleb lifted the peeled shrimp and fed it to her.

The motion was practiced.

His eyes were full of indulgence, so he didn't notice every other expression at the table turning cold.

Then everyone looked at me.

I sat there perfectly calm, as though I'd seen this too many times to care anymore.

One by one, their hands curled into fists.

Even the usually oblivious Rachel finally frowned.

"Caleb, who the hell is she? You won't peel shrimp for Yvette, but you'll do it for her?"

Caleb froze.

Only then did he seem to realize what he'd done.

He hurriedly peeled another shrimp, stood up, and leaned across the entire table as though he meant to feed it to me.

I cut him off first.

"No thanks. I don't like shrimp."

The way my friends looked at him changed completely.

They raised their glasses toward me, their words clearly aimed at someone else.

"Yvette, leaving is absolutely the right call. The farther you go, the better."

"Some people aren't worth everything you give them. You work yourself to the bone for years, and all you get is an ungrateful bastard who turns around and bites the hand that fed him."

Even Caleb couldn't miss what they were saying.

His brows pulled together.

"Leaving? What are you talking about?"

Every one of my friends turned to look at him.

Then one of them gave him a mocking smile.

"Yvette's moving overseas to work for a major company. You're her boyfriend, and you seriously didn't know?"