#Chapter 113: We Have To End It

I send the message to Miles, then exhale a long, slow breath. This was for his benefit as well as my own. Knowing that doesn’t make this any easier. Okay. All I have to do right now is drive home. I can fall apart as soon as I’m safely in my room but not a minute before. I can do this. Then my phone starts ringing. Glancing down, I see that the caller ID reads Miles. Ignore it, I tell myself. Don’t you dare answer that. It’s torture. Every nerve itches to reach out and answer that phone, but I force myself to stay still, denying those impulses and desires. Eventually, blessedly, the phone stops ringing. I wait a few agonizing moments, but when it does not ring again, I put my car in drive and go home. As always, I spend the evening with Iris and Violet. I make dinner, then clean the kitchen. When the girls go to bed, I retreat into my bedroom and lock the door. My phone hasn’t made a sound since Miles’s call. Maybe this is how things are now. This is what I could exp