I hadn’t touched it since I brought it here with me.
“Okay,” I mumbled, hitting the video call button. “Here we go.”
The screen filled one by one with familiar faces—blurry and chaotic at first as they all tried to talk at once.
Izzy went first. “Carmen, oh my God—”
“Girl, where the hell have you been?” Mantis chimed in.
“Carmen? What’s going on? Why do you look like that?”
Alyssa’s face popped up last, and she immediately zeroed in on me. “You been crying?”
I swallowed, forcing a tight smile. “Hi. Missed y’all too.”
Jayda’s eyes narrowed. “Where are you?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re never fine when you start with that,” Mantis said, perched somewhere in a coffee shop, earbuds in and giant sunglasses covering half her face.
“I’m not gonna lie,” I said, rubbing my temples, “this call is probably gonna feel like a novella, so buckle in.”
Jayda blinked. “Oh God.”
“Theo proposed last night. And I gave the ring back.”
Silence.
Alyssa was the first to react. “What?!”
“Wait—you gave it back?” Mantis asked.
“Yeah.”
“Carm,” Izzy said slowly. “Was that the smart thing to do?”
“I don’t know.”
Jayda finally joined in. “You don’t know?”
“No, I don’t,” I admitted, picking at a loose thread on the hem of my robe. “But I was so mad last night. Like… white-hot, I-can’t-hear-my-own-thoughts kind of mad.”
Jayda leaned closer to her screen, her brows furrowed. “Mad about what, though? What did he do?”
I sighed and tipped my head back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “He talked to Marcus behind my back. About him wanting me to move out here and getting a position at another firm. Without asking me.”
“Oh hell no,” Mantis muttered.
“Did he mean well?” Izzy asked. “I’m not defending it, I’m just—maybe in his mind—”
“I know he meant well,” I cut in. “That’s the worst part. He thought he was doing something for me. Something romantic, even. But it felt like such a betrayal. Like I didn’t have a say in my own future, and he wanted to make sure I didn’t go home. And for him to do that to me. Of all people, I never expected Theo to try and stop me from doing what I wanted to. I compromised as much as I could. I compromised and swallowed so much. And he still did that to me.”
Alyssa was quiet for a second. “Did you talk to him?”
“I tried. It turned into an argument, followed by the strangest ‘hate’ sex of our relationship.” I let out a breath. “And then I took off the ring and gave it to him.”
Jayda made a face, like she was physically pained. “I mean… I get it. But damn, Carm.”
