“When are you coming up to join me?” she asks as soon as I answer the phone and I’m so glad I have the foresight to turn the volume all the way down.

“Hey, come down when you’re done, your dad just got here,” I say nonchalantly and not like she was enticing me to come upstairs and fuck her in my Jacuzzi bathtub.

“That’s not funny,” she responds.

I force a laugh. “Yeah, you know how he gets when your mom goes out. Can’t fend for himself.”

She gasps. “You’re serious.”

“Yep. Say hi.” I put her on speakerphone and Kevin speaks up.

“Whit, hi hon, you okay? Jacob said you broke up with Parker? I can’t say I’m super upset about it but are you okay?”

“Umm yeah… I mean, I don’t know…” She’s silent and I know she’s probably in a little bit of shock that suddenly her father is here and thereby she will not be getting fucked any time soon. “I need to somehow get the rest of my things. Can you help me with that?”

I try to hide the frown crossing my face that she didn’t ask me to help her with that, but I guess she’s trying to keep him distracted so he doesn’t ask her any questions about why she’d come here instead of to him and her mother. “Of course, honey. Just come down when you’re done and we can talk. Whitney, did he do something?”

“No, no, this was me. I just realized he wasn’t the one for me. I’ll be down in a little,” she says and Kevin looks at me.

“She just up and decided this? A week ago, she was talking to Michelle about the venue and now she’s calling off the engagement. Do you think something happened?”

“I don’t know, Kev… she literally just got here.” He moves into the living room and sits on my sectional L-shaped couch, placing the beers on the coffee table and popping one open before taking a long sip. Part of me wants to tell him about his infidelity. That he’d cheated on her and she never got over it but I know that’s not my story to tell even if it does piss me the fuck off. I hadn’t looked at another woman in the three years we’ve been apart because she still consumed me on the deepest levels and he fucked some other woman under the guise that he can’t handle his liquor?

Not why she broke up with him though.

“This is strange as fuck and seems just so out of character for her. I wonder if Michelle knows.”