“Phileigh!” I called again desperately. Suddenly, the decision to send her with my mom didn’t sound like a good idea.

“Just check around. Maybe she went downstairs or something,” Ma suggested.

I knew that shit was cap, but I still held on to hope that Phileigh hadn’t bailed on a nigga. Taking a deep breath, I opened the app on my phone and checked the security cameras to see where her fine ass was hiding. Every room in the house was empty. There was no sign of her.

“Shit!” I exhaled a breath.

She was gone. I rewound the camera footage, eager to see when she’d left. Sure enough, around 7:00 p.m., there she was in 4K quietly getting up from the couch after my mom fell asleep. I rubbed my hand across my forehead as I watched her board the elevator and travel down to the ground level where she got into a taxi.

“What are you doing, Phileigh?” I murmured to myself as my heart sank.

Why would she leave without saying anything? She had my number. We’d exchanged numbers back in Orlando. I knew Phileigh was in a challenging position with her being pregnant and the baby’s father bailing on her. I got it. My daddy didn’t bail by choice, but a single mother still raised me. Maybe that was why I had a weak spot for Phileigh. If she let me, I would be there for her as her man or friend. It didn’t matter. Exiting the camera app, I pulled up Phileigh’s number and pressed call. If she thought she was getting away from me, that easily was mistaken. The phone rang three times before the call picked up. Her soft breaths filling my ears was the only way I knew she was on the line.

“Phileigh.” I was desperate as fuck for answers on where she was. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Kellon. I’m boarding my flight.” The tone of her voice made me lose any hope of getting her back here.

“Why are you going home? Why did you leave?”

She was quiet for a moment, and I could hear the flight attendant calling boarding groups in the background.

“Phileigh,” I called her again, trying to plead with her not to leave.

“Kellon, I’m so sorry,” she replied softly. “You’re great, really great. I’m so lucky to have met you. I appreciate everything… in another life, we could...”

Her voice cracked, and I could feel my chest caving in.

“I like you a lot. I didn’t expect you to handle me being pregnant the way you did. It just shows that I come with way too much baggage. You deserve a woman who isn’t pregnant by someone else, Kellon.”