Chapter 3

On Wednesday night, Mrs. Foster stopped by with the new lease. She pulled out five pens and motioned for us to sign.

Sloane kept her hands in her lap. "Wait, I'm just crashing here temporarily. Do I really need to put my name down?"

Asher slid the lease right across the table toward her.

"What do you mean, temporarily? You've been here long enough. You're family now."

Mrs. Foster flipped to the page. "What about Miss Rhodes? Is she definitely not renewing her lease?"

The dining room went completely dead silent.

Asher whipped his head around to look at me. "What do you mean, not renewing?"

I slid my copy of the paperwork back toward his side of the table. "Exactly what it sounds like."

"Where are you even planning to move?"

"The staff dorms at work."

Asher stared at me like he was finally putting the pieces together, realizing why I had been packing up my room all week.

Then his face darkened.

"Is this really because I didn't wait for you on Sunday?

"Vivian, are you seriously being this dramatic?"

Damon dropped his pen against the table too.

"If you have an issue, just say it. Who are you trying to scare with this whole moving out stunt?"

Jessica let out a heavy sigh. "Vivian, you've been way too sensitive lately.

"We all live together under one roof. Who hasn't had to deal with minor inconveniences? Sloane just got here, so obviously we need to look out for her a little more."

I looked straight at her. "And how long are we supposed to look out for her?"

She didn't have an answer for that.

Sloane scrambled to her feet, her eyes turning red. "Is all of this happening because of me?

"I'll just pack my bags and leave right now. Please don't move out, Vivian."

Before she could even grab her suitcase, Damon reached out and pinned it to the floor. "This has nothing to do with you."

Asher stepped in front of her as well.

"You aren't the one who needs to leave."

The second those words dropped, the entire room froze.

Asher probably realized he crossed a line because he quickly turned around like he wanted to take it back.

I just let out a quiet laugh.

"Right. The one who needs to leave is me."

I picked up a pen and signed on the lease termination form.

Asher's jaw tightened.

"Fine. If you want to throw a massive fit, go ahead.

"After you spend a couple of days out on your own, realizing nobody is cooking your meals or waiting around for you to come home, you'll crawl right back."

I didn't bother telling him the truth.

For the past three years, the person doing all the cooking had mostly been me.

The person waiting up until the very end had always been me, too.

Mrs. Foster packed up the papers, pausing at the front door to remind us she would be back on Sunday morning to do the final walkthrough.

Sloane piped up softly, "So... Are we still doing the housewarming dinner on Sunday?"

The brand-new table she had picked out had just been delivered earlier that day. The store had thrown in four matching chairs as a promo.

Asher didn't even hesitate. "Of course. Why wouldn't we?"

Damon chimed in right after him, "Vivian throwing a tantrum doesn't mean the rest of us have to put our lives on hold."

Right there in front of me, they started mapping out the menu for Sunday.

Sloane wanted a grilled fish.

Jessica insisted they also pick up her favorite strawberry shortcake.

Finally, Asher looked over at me. "What time do you get off? Make sure you're back early to handle the roast beef."

I held his gaze. "I'm moving out on Sunday."

"You think moving takes a full day?"

There was a sharp edge of irritation in his voice now.

"We still have to eat, right? Sloane's officially part of the lease now, and we all want to celebrate. Stop trying to ruin everyone's mood on purpose."

It turned out Sunday wasn't just a housewarming dinner. It was Sloane's official welcome party.

My departure was nothing more than an inconvenient little detail they could easily brush aside.

I gave a single nod. "Got it."

They assumed I was agreeing to come back. In reality, I was just acknowledging the facts.

I knew that no matter what I did, my feelings would never matter as much as a fraction of Sloane's.

Later that night, Sloane posted the grocery list in our group chat.

At the very bottom, she added a cute note: [Vivian is the absolute queen of making roast beef! Having her around always tastes like home.]

Asher hit the message with a thumbs-up reaction.

Damon reminded me to prep the meat ahead of time.

Jessica straight-up dropped the grocery store errand list on me, telling me to pick everything up on my way home from work.

Not a single person asked how my packing was going.

Not a single person asked where I was planning to sleep on Sunday night.

In the middle of the night, I taped up my very last moving box.

I reached up and pulled the framed photo of the four of us off the wall.

In the picture, we were crammed together on a twin-sized mattress back in the group home.

Asher had an arm thrown around my shoulders, while Damon and Jessica were pulling ridiculous faces in the background.

Back then, we swore that none of us would ever leave the others behind.

I stared at it for a long time, then turned the frame face-down on the desk.

My phone lit up with a direct message from Sloane.

[Hey Vivian, I might be a little late getting back on Sunday.]

[You guys have to wait for me, okay? I really don't want to eat by myself ever again.]

I left it on read without replying.

On Sunday, of course they would wait for her.

By then, nobody cared whether I came back.