Meadow’s POV:

‘Don’t be a little bitch. Come on, just call me back.‘

I stared down at the phone in my hand, reading the text my sister had sent about a minute ago over and

over again.

I was about to turn the phone over and ignore it when another one came in.

‘Or at least pick up the phone. Did your husband ask you not to? You don’t have to listen to him, you

know. I miss you.‘

My jaw tightened. Leave it to Juniper to insult me, try to manipte me, and tell me she misses me in the same fucking text.

The phone buzzed in my hand again.

It had been buzzing incessantly for the past few days. Juniper had been trying to reach me, leaving me uncountable missed calls daily. I didn’t pick the phone, of course. And I even resorted to blocking her, but before I could say ‘Jack‘, she was trying with another number again. I knew she would do that, but for a moment, I’d just hoped that maybe she had changed a bit.

And obviously, she hadn’t.

“Meadow, are you there?” a voice cut through the speaker of myptop.

Crap. I’d forgotten that I was in ss.

I quickly hit ‘unmute.‘ “Um, yes, professor,” I answered, feeling flustered. At the far right corner of the screen, my new friend, Lana, was biting her lip to conceal her smile. Everyone else stared at me awkwardly. “Sorry, I’m just a little distracted today.”

Professor Kate Wellsbury scrunched up her nose, pushing her sses up her face. She was… a little bit strict, and by the purse of her lips, I could tell that she was annoyed I wasn’t paying attention.

“Um, what was the question?” I asked.

“Would you like to take a break from this bss/bb, /bMeadow? Since you’re… distracted.” Her voice was casual, but it still had a stern edge to it.

I opened my mouth, about to say yes, but then my phone buzzed again and I immediately looked down at my phone to see another text from my sister.

‘CALL ME NOW!‘

My gaze shifted to myptop and Kate’s brow was arched at me. I cleared my throat. “Uh, actually… why

don’t you guys go on and I’ll get notes from Lanater?”

“Great,” Kate droned. “Goodbye, Meadow.”

When the zoom call ended, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Running my hand through my hair, I tapped on Juniper’s name, my thumb hovering over the call button.

Deep down, I knew that there was nothing important she wanted to tell me. Or if there was, it had to be about our father. I had no idea if he had tried to contact her the way he did me, and I didn’t even want to

know. I wanted nothing to do with them.

So, even though my fingers itched to click that call button, I forced myself to push the phone aside and

make my way out of the living room entirely.

I went up the stairs and–as I normally did to free up my mind–went to swim in the indoor pool.

I didn’t want to think too much about it, but the more I tried not to, the more I felt this maic pull to

just do as my sister asked. It was terrible, the way I was attached to her, but even more terrible was the

guilt that always tugged at my chest whenever it happened.

“Fuck, no…” I whispered under my breath, slicking my wet hair back as I came up for air.

If I called her, then nothing would stop me from going to meet her to find out what on earth she wants

from me.

I got out of the pool, not feeling even a little bit relieved. The urge to call her back had only spiked. What if

something really was wrong?

Thest time Juniper called like this was when I was still in college, right after she practically ruined my

life with the craigslist bit. I told her that I was going to leave her and she threatened to end her own life.

Fuck. What if she-

“No,” I said out loud, walking out of the pool room and straight to my room. “She wouldn’t.”

If anything, Juniper was too selfish to take her own life. I was foolish enough to believe her then, but I wouldn’t let myself be delusional right now.

However, the moment I stepped into my room, I stopped short. There was something on my bed. Something that hadn’t been there an hour ago when I came in to change.

A box that I knew without opening, would contain a dress.

A warm feeling fluttered in the bottom of my stomach and I tightened the towel around my body.

ric had been… melting my hearttely–I mean, way more than before. I had barely seen him this week because of how busy he was at the office, but every morning, whenever I woke up and went to the kitchen, I’d see a bouquet of flowers.

And not even the ones from the garden that he nted just from me. These were always from outside and usually contained a sweet note. And not only that–I hadn’t slept in my own bed because he only

wanted me in his room,

For some reason, he wanted to take me out to dinner tonight. When he told me, I didn’t think he was

serious, since his schedule was so full, but now…

I hurriedly padded toward his room, the towel still clutched tight around me. He was back from bwork/bb. /bThe

moment I stepped inside his room, I heard the sound of the shower running.

I made my way to the bathroom, biting hard on my bottom lip. I wanted to see him. Wanted to touch him. It had been way too long since we had sex.

Only about a week, but yes, way too long.

The sound of his grunt filtered over to me, and I could hear him mutter, “Fuck.” Like something was wrong. And when I saw him, I instantly knew that something was definitely wrong.

ric stood in the shower, back facing me, tense as hell, with his head falling forward and his fist pressing hard against the wall.

“Fuck,” he gritted out again, and this time, he mmed his fist against the tiled wall. He didn’t feel it, which must have been why he did it two more times, nearly causing me to jump out of my skin.

What on earth was going on?

Brows pulling together, I let my towel drop to the floor. And then I stepped toward him. I didn’t know if he could sense meing or not, but the moment I touched his back, he froze.

ric didn’t say a word as I slowly wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my chest and my cheek against his back. The water poured over us both.

“Fuck, that feels good.” His voice was like gravel when he spoke after a while.

“I’d hoped it would,” I whispered after he turned off the shower. “Is everything okay?b” /b

He didn’t say anything at first, and when he finally spoke, it wasn’t to answer my question. “Did you see the dress I got you?” he murmured.

My hands slowly roamed over his chest. “You know you don’t need to get me a dress anytime we have a function, right? It’s what the dresses in my closet are for. The ones YOU picked out, by the way.”

ric let out an amused breath, cing one hand over mine on his chest. “I saw it and knew it would look perfect on you, baby. Couldn’t just pass it by.”

“Right,” I murmured. Three heavy seconds passed before I spoke again. “Are you gonna talk to me? Tell me what’s wrong?”

He turned around then, and when his eyes met mine, I stopped breathing.

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