All Chapters of He Divorced Me On Our Anniversary: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Ethan’s POVLos Angeles feels louder than I remember or maybe that’s just me.I drive without music just my thoughts, and they are not kind.My hands grip the steering wheel so tight my knuckles ache, my shoulders locked in a tension that refuses to loosen no matter how many deep breaths I take. I look at my reflection in the rearview mirror and barely recognize the man staring back at me my face looks older and hollowed out. My eyes are darker, colder, like something inside me died and didn’t bother coming back.I think about Lena the whole way, her face in that hospital bed, her hand pulling away from mine and her voice telling the doctor to make me leave.Every mile back to LA feels like a step farther from her and closer to the people who destroyed us.When I pull into the parking garage of my of my office building the silence inside the car is unbearable. I sit there longer than I need to only staring at the concrete wall in front of me letting the engine tick as it cools.I don’

Lena’s POVThe news reaches me the same way everything in this town does not with headlines, but with voices.I am at the café when it starts.The bell above the door keeps ringing more than usual, people walking in with faces too bright for a normal afternoon. Ruth is behind the counter pretending to wipe the same coffee cup for the third time but I can see the tension in her shoulders the way she keeps looking toward the street like she is waiting for something to be confirmed.Jess’s kids are laying on the floor near the book corner flipping through picture books their laughter light and careless completely unaware that something bigger than them is happening outside.I’m sitting at our usual table with my hands wrapped around a mug that has long since gone cold. My back aches more lately, my belly heavier, my body slower in a way that reminds me every minute that my life is no longer just my own.Ruth finally stops pretending and leans against the counter her eyes sharp as she wat

Lena’s POVI told myself I was just going to loo that is what I said when I walked into the baby store just looking at the pastel blankets and tiny socks but the truth is from the second I stepped inside I knew I was lying to myself.The place smelled like new fabric faintly sweet and clean mixed with that soft powder scent that clings to anything made for babies. The lights were warm and everything was too small and unreal.Rows of little outfits hung neatly on racks onesies in soft creams, pale blues, gentle greens, tiny overalls that looked like they belonged on a storybook child not my very real and very complicated life.My hand hang over a pale blue sleeper with little clouds decorated on it my baby my son the word still made my chest ache in a way I didn’t know how to explain. I pressed my palm lightly against my stomach feeling that roundness that had become impossible to hide. He moved now, soft little shifts that made me freeze and smile all at once as if my body and my hea

Lena’s POVI din’t hear them arrive that is the part that still messes with me when I think about it later it was judta knock three soft taps on the front door like they are asking to borrow sugar. I’m in the kitchen with Keenan, chopping tomatoes badly because my hands won’t stop shaking and I keep losing my grip on the knife.He is talking about James again not in a mushy way but in that distracted thoughtful tone he gets when someone is stuck in his head. “He called the bookstore this morning,” Keenan says leaning against the counter. “Just to ask if the delivery came in.”I glance at him. “You sound way too pleased about that.”He shrugs trying to play it cool but his ears turn pink. “It was a normal call.”“Sure,” I tease. “Totally normal that is why you have replayed it five times.”He throws a dish towel at me and I laugh the sound light for the first time in weeks. That is when the knock comes.We both freeze. The house has been quiet lately, too quiet if I’m honest since ever

Ryan’s POVI find out about Ethan the same way I always do through other people who talk too much and think I don’t listen. The office is already too loud that morning. Phones ringing, keyboards clicking, assistants rushing in and out like the building is on fire instead of just running business as usual. Sunlight comes in through the glass walls of my corner office.I sit behind my desk staring at nothing, coffee growing cold, fingers drumming against polished wood, my mind circling the same name it has been circling for months.Lena.Her face keeps appearing in my head when I don’t want it to, her laugh in that small café, her standing on the beach with wind in her hair and her crying in that hospital bed, pale, fragile, hurt because of me, because of Maya, because of Ethan, because of everything that got twisted beyond repair.I swallow hard and drag my hand down my face. I should have stayed away from her. I should have never let myself feel anything for her but I did and now it f