Lauren:Hey, stranger. Back in town for the weekend. Drinks at my place? You can do that thing with your tongue again. XOXO.
Delete. Hard pass. Done with empty sex.
More messages. Amelia. Coworkers. Junk… and her. But I don’t open them… not yet. Not until I feel ready to read her words after all these months.
Luis opens the door and hops in. “Ready to go home?” he asks.
No. But I nod anyway.
Chapter 37: Superpowers & No Willpower
Jenna: June
Sitting in my car outside my favorite breakfast spot, Biscuit Love, I clutch my phone, finally ready to read Dylan’s message.
Hey beautiful!! Just got back from a remote fishing trip. Not gonna lie… seeing your message and all your 101 questions made my whole damn day. I must’ve read it a thousand times. And didn’t sleep a wink.
And no, I haven’t made a decision. I’ve been too busy thinking about you. Every minute of every hour. I told you, Jenna… you’re one of a kind. I’ll never meet anyone like you again. And I meant that. You took a piece of my heart I can’t ever take back.
Tears stream down my face. I feel a mix of joy, relief, and longing. He always answers each of my questions. Never gets annoyed. Never makes me feel like I’m too much.
Meet up with me? Just as friends. I miss talking to you. I miss watching you bump into things, and spill everything… and I miss you.
Relief crashes over me. He still cares. But where does that leave us?
By the time I walk inside, my makeup and emotions are a mess. I spot Izzy looking effortlessly gorgeous as always. She’s sitting in a booth eating ice cream—at nine in the morning—wearing cut-off jean shorts and a Nirvana T-shirt. Classic.
“Hey, Iz! What the hell?” I mutter, sliding into the booth. “You couldn’t wait for me? I need at least three bowls.”
“What’s going on? Why the puffy eyes? Do you need one of my world-class sex pep talks?” Izzy teases, sliding over the cup of tea she ordered for me.
I pull out a napkin from the dispenser on the table and dab my eyes, smiling softly. She always knows how to make me laugh. Even when my world is collapsing around me. “I wish your sex talks could help right now.”
Another notification dings on my phone. Dylan again. I haven’t replied to the last three, but of course, he doesn’t care. He never cared about “text etiquette.” It’s one of the things that makes him so undeniably him.
Dylan:And yeah, Amelia finally got engaged. Then they broke up… like I predicted. Douchebag. Took everything in me not to kick down his door and burn his salmon-colored shirts. Almost as much as it took to stop myself from kicking down your office door so I could tell you how wrong life feels without you.”
A picture pops up—a baby girl cradled in Dylan’s arms. My heart squeezes. Damn, he makes one sexy uncle. There goes my mascara again. I really need to buy waterproof.
Dylan:I’m also the luckiest uncle. Meet Evangelia.
Izzy leans forward, her expression turning serious. “Talk to me, Jenna. Who’s texting you? Is that my brother? Are you guys getting a divorce?”
“No, it’s not Jacob,” I murmur, staring at my screen.
“If you don’t start talking, I’m walking out.” She smirks. “And I’m taking your ice cream with me.”
Suddenly, it all comes tumbling out. The lies. The late nights. The mind-blowing sex. The guilt. The tears. The fear of being caught.
Izzy sits frozen, her eyes wide, as if she doesn’t recognize me. I brace for her to call me a terrible person, to storm out. Instead, she takes a slow sip of coffee and says something I’ll never forget.
“Jenna, you get one life. One shot to explore every wild, passionate corner of your heart. If Dylan awakened something in you that you can’t ignore, maybe it’s not about being a terrible wife or mother. Maybe it’s about finding the parts of yourself you’ve buried too long—and listening to them.”
I blink, stunned. “Are you saying I should go back to him?”
“I’m saying you need to figure out what’s true for you. If that means letting go of Dylan, go do it. And if it means leaving Jacob…” She exhales, her voice steady. “Then do that too. Life’s too short to live with what-ifs.”
Tears rush down my mascara-streaked cheeks. “I love who I am when I’m with Dylan,” I confess. “He shows me another version of myself, one I don’t know if I can live without. And with Jacob… it’s not that I want to leave, I just want to leave the person I’ve become with him.”
