“Trevor,” I say when I answer. It’s strange to greet him this way. Normally, I’d say “Hey, baby” or “Hiya, sweetie”. I hate I can’t do that anymore.
“Oh, Evie. Hey,” he responds, like he’s surprised to hear my voice, even though he was the one who called.
“Is there something you need, or was this a butt dial?” I quip in a sarcastic tone when he doesn’t say anything more.
“Right…” There’s a pause and I hold my breath. Something’s different in the timbre of his voice. Regret? Remorse? Sorrow? “I stopped by the apartment to change suits for tonight.” Hope builds inside me that my plan has already had the intended effect. “There was a delivery for you.”
“A delivery?” I can’t remember the last order I placed. I normally have everything sent to the office, unless it’s a big item.
“Yeah. It’s… Well, someone sent you flowers.”
I roll my eyes, thinking it’s someone else from the magazine who decided to send me flowers in condolence for my breakup. Most likely one of the contributors who doesn’t regularly come into the office.
I’m about to explain what my coworkers do during a breakup, when he cuts me off. “Who’s Julian?”
My jaw falls open, a rush of adrenaline causing my skin to tingle from the name alone. “Julian?” I swallow hard.
In an instant, Chloe and Nora kneel directly in front of my position on the floor, their curious eyes trained on me. Who’s Julian? Nora mouths. I hold up a finger, hushing them. This is as much a mystery to me as it is to them. Why would he send me flowers after I turned him down yesterday?
“I didn’t mean to read the card, but it wasn’t in an envelope. It was kind of hard to miss. Are you already seeing someone else?” His voice is low with a hint of jealousy. I shouldn’t smile at the pain I hear, but it gives me a taste of vindication. Now he knows how it feels. Even if I’m not seeing Julian, he doesn’t need to know that.
“You’ve already moved on. You can’t expect me to sit around and wait for you, can you?”
“Well… No. I guess not.” He blows out a long breath. “I just thought—”
“Actually, you didn’t, Trevor. That’s the problem. You didn’t think. You didn’t think I’d ever get over you. Well, maybe I have.”
“Is that the only reason you’re dating him?” His voice becomes strained, turning into almost a growl. I picture him pacing in front of the entryway table, tugging at his hair, sneering at the flowers Julian sent. “To piss me off? To make me jealous?”
“Do you really think so little of me that I’d stoop to such levels?” I keep my tone calm, refusing to show any hint of emotion. “Maybe I’m with Julian because he makes me laugh, makes me smile, makes me feel like I matter.” I stand, pacing in the little free space between all my boxes. “And you know what? He likes that I’m a bit eccentric. He likes that I don’t fit into the cookie-cutter mold it appears you want. He likes I don’t have a size two body. Not to mention he really likes that I have more than a handful up top.”
Nora snort-laughs, her wide eyes sparkling with amusement. I may have dug the knife a little deeper than necessary, but it feels good. Who knew? Apparently, Julian did.
“So am I doing this to make you jealous? No. I’m doing this to give me the happiness I deserve.” I draw in a deep breath, my own words surprising me. I think they surprise my friends, too. They gape at me for a moment, then they both jump to their feet as they give me a silent standing ovation.
I glare and wave my wands at them, warning them not to make me laugh as I return my attention to my phone. “As you probably already noticed, I’ve packed up my things and brought them over to Chloe’s. You shouldn’t receive any additional deliveries for me over there, but text me if you do and I’ll swing by to pick them up. There are a few more things I need to get out of the apartment this weekend. After that, you’ll finally have me out of your life. I’m sorry it’s taken so long.”
A lump builds in my throat at the double meaning. I want him to beg me not to go, to tell me he doesn’t want to come home to an apartment without tripping over my shoes, or seeing my collection of coffee mugs that haven’t yet made their way into the dishwasher. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t say anything.
“Goodbye, Trevor.”
I stay on the line a moment longer, praying he’ll admit he made a mistake. But he doesn’t. I go to end the call to see he already has. I remain motionless for a moment, simply staring at the phone as I try to process what just happened. Is this officially the end of Trevor and Evie? Trevi? I’d even planned for us to honeymoon in Rome just to go to the fountain bearing the same name as our couple name. Will I ever find someone I’ll have an awesome couple name with again?
“Want to tell us what the hell is going on?” Chloe’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts.
I glance to see her standing beside me, her arms crossed.
“Who’s Julian?” Nora adds. “Why didn’t you say anything about a new suitor?”
I shake my head, unsure where to even begin with this. I still can’t wrap my head around it myself. “Julian isn’t a suitor,” I begin, then my phone rings once more.
“Is it Trevor telling you there’s another delivery of flowers from yet another gentleman caller?” Nora giggles.
Rolling my eyes, I look at the phone to see my office line number, indicating it’s a call forwarded from there, something I do whenever I’m away from my desk during normal business hours.
“It’s a work call.” I grit a smile. “Just a second.” I bring the phone back up to my ear, squaring my shoulders and plastering on as professional an expression as I can, even though whoever’s calling can’t see me. “Evie Fitzgerald.”
“Hello, Evie,” a deep baritone responds.
The instant that voice comes over the line, my core clenches, my breath quickening as desire builds inside me, low and deep. My cheeks heat, so I look away from Chloe and Nora, hoping they don’t notice the sudden change in my demeanor.
“Good afternoon, Julian.”
Nora squeals and I glare at her. She quickly silences herself, but that doesn’t stop her and Chloe from making obscene gestures, the occasional moan of “Oh, Julian” thrown in for added emphasis.
“Is it?” There’s a hint of amusement in his voice, leading me to believe this was all part of his plan to begin with.
“It is now.” I walk away from my two best friends, who seem to be acting like they’re in middle school instead of professional adults, and head to the bay windows in Chloe’s living room, looking out at the streets of Greenwich Village.
“And why’s that?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I lower myself to the window seat. “Maybe because my ex-boyfriend just called me in a jealous rage because someone happened to send me flowers.”
He chuckles, the sound still having the same effect as it did yesterday. “Is that right?”
“That’s right.”
“I told you I can help, did I not?”
“All you did was send flowers,” I retort. The last thing I want is to sound overly eager to agree to his proposition. I’m still not convinced it’s the right way to go about this. “You were lucky Trevor was even home when they were delivered. He’s been practically sleeping at the office these days.”
“You call it luck. I call it due diligence.”
“Due diligence?”
“Precisely. I promised that if you agreed to help me, I’d do everything to help you. Randomly sending you flowers doesn’t cut it. If I simply wanted to send you flowers, I would have sent them to your office. I wanted him to know I sent you flowers. Which is why I paid the delivery person to sit outside your building and wait until he saw Trevor walk in.”
I’m momentarily speechless by the length it appears Julian went in order to make Trevor jealous. I have to hand it to him. It certainly worked.
“Do I want to know how long the delivery man was sitting outside?” I’m unsure if I should consider this a creepy form of stalking or if it is simply a demonstration that he’s a talented manipulator.