“I already told you, the engagement party is only postponed.”
“Rosie was really shaken up that day. She's all alone in this city. If I don't look after her, who will?”
“You're usually so easygoing. Why are you picking a fight with someone who's still recovering?”
I looked at him.
“Owen.”
“Do you have any idea what these past three days have been like for me?”
Owen frowned.
“I know you've been upset.”
He pushed the paper bag on the coffee table toward me.
“This is from that chestnut cake place on the south side you love. I waited in line half an hour for it.”
“Stop being mad, okay?”
He was using that tone, the one you'd use to coax a child.
I looked at the bag with its elegant logo.
“Rosamund's leftovers?”
Owen's expression froze.
“What are you talking about?”
“That shop is on the south side. The hospital is on the north side. You came straight from the hospital. Why would you go all the way across town for cake?”
I held his gaze. My voice was completely flat.
“Rosamund likes chestnuts, but she's allergic to peanuts.”
“This shop puts crushed peanuts in their chestnut cake.”
“You bought it for her. She couldn't eat it. So you brought the rest home to me. Am I wrong?”
Owen's eyes flickered away for a second.
But he recovered fast, straightening up like he had nothing to be ashamed of.
“So what if I did?”
“I figured you like it too. What's the big deal?”
“Roberta, do you have to make everything sound so ugly?”
He stood up and looked down at me.
“I've been at the hospital taking care of Rosie for days. I'm exhausted.”
“Can you stop nitpicking over every little thing?”
Nitpicking.
I nearly laughed.
“Owen, do you even know what I lost?”
I tilted my head up to look at him.
Owen blinked, caught off guard.
“It's just an engagement party.”
He tugged at his tie, irritated.
“I told you I'd make it up to you. What more do you want?”
“Is saving face really that important to you?”
I watched him in silence.
Watched the impatience in his eyes, the certainty that he'd done nothing wrong.
Every explanation I had left died in my throat.
He didn't even know what injuries I'd sustained.
He didn't care.
I stood up. The motion was too quick; pain tore through my abdomen.
I gritted my teeth against it and walked to the entryway.
“We're done.”
My voice was quiet, but every word was clear.
Owen went still.
He turned, eyes wide.
“What did you just say?”
“We're done.”
I said it again.
“There's no wedding. I'll contact a realtor to sell the apartment. Wire my share of the money to my account.”
Owen stared at me for a few seconds, then let out a cold laugh.
“Wow, Roberta. You've really grown a spine, haven't you?”
“Using a breakup to threaten me?”
He walked up to me, his gaze dripping with the smug certainty of a man who believed he could never be left.
“Fine. You want out?”
“Go ahead.”
“I'd love to see what you amount to without me.”
He grabbed his coat off the sofa and walked out without looking back.
“Call me when you've come to your senses.”
After Owen left, I took out my phone.
I opened the family group chat, the one titled "One Big Happy Family."
Both sets of parents were in it, along with a few relatives we saw regularly.
The chat had been dead silent ever since I'd announced three days ago that the engagement party was off.
My fingers moved across the keyboard.
No hesitation. I hit send.
