Chapter 2
The day I was discharged from the hospital felt like a blur. My body still ached, and the grief of losing the baby clung to me like a weight I couldn’t shake off, but I still needed to go home.
When I pushed open the door to our condo, a gentle voice sounded.
“Callie?”
I turned to see Landon standing in the doorway to our bedroom. For a second- just a fleeting second–hope flickered in my
chest.
“Where have you been?” he asked, his tone casual like he was asking about the weather or something equally meaningless.
My heart jumped. It seemed he missed me.
“I… I was in the hospital. There was an accident. I-”
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But before I could finish, he cut me off, his brows furrowing slightly. “You’ve been gone for two weeks without telling me, and you didn’t send lunch or dinner.”
I blinked, trying to understand what he meant. “What?”
“Daisy hasn’t eaten all day. She said she didn’t have an appetite because you didn’t send anything for us.” His voice was sharp, almost annoyed as if I had inconvenienced him. “Why didn’t you call or at least leave something before you disappeared? I had to order takeout.”
I stared at him, the hope that had flared up when he said my name crumbled, leaving only emptiness in its wake. He wasn’t worried about me. His concern was for Daisy, not me. Not the fact that I’d been in a hospital bed, bleeding, losing our child.
“You‘ re upset because… I didn’t send food?” I asked wryly.
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Landon sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I’m not upset, Callie. But you could’ve told me. You just left, and Daisy’s been stressed out all day. She‘ s been dealing with a lot at work, and without you around, it’s hard on her.”
“Hard on her?” I repeated in disbelief. “I was in the hospital, Landon!”
His expression barely changed. He didn’t react the way I thought he would—no guilt, no apology.
“Well, I didn’t know. I’m sorry, okay,” he said slowly, but there was no emotion behind the words. “But Daisy has been through a lot, and I need to make sure she’s okay too.”
I bit my lip and didn’t reply. My stomach twisted painfully, and I realized that the Landon standing in front of me was not the
man I had fallen in love with.
At that moment, I recalled the first time I met Daisy. She was shy, quiet, and looked
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like she had been through hell. Landon had told me she was an orphan, broke, and desperate for a job. I didn’t think much of it at the time. After all, Landon had always been responsible, always wanting to help those in need. Giving Daisy a job seemed like the kind of thing he‘ d do–the sweet side of him that few people ever got to see.
At first, everything was normal. Daisy worked in the office, and occasionally, Landon would mention how hard–working she was. I never felt threatened; if anything, I admired him for helping her out. But over time, Daisy would drop by our condo with files or stay late for meetings. I noticed how Landon’s demeanor shifted when she was around–he was softer and more open with her in ways I hadn’t seen in a long time.
And then, slowly he grew distant. He was always busy with work, or with Daisy. Every time I tried to bring it up, he‘ d brush it off, saying I was imagining things. or that I was being insecure. I tried not to
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let it bother me, tried to rationalize it, thinking maybe it was just stress from work.
But deep down, I knew something had changed.
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Still, I stayed. I couldn’t bring myself to walk away, so I did everything I could to hold on. I tried to be the perfect girlfriend, doing all the things I thought would make him happy, but no matter how hard I tried, it was never enough.
I walked into the bathroom, but I froze when I saw a pair of women’s undergarments draped over the edge of the bathtub that wasn’t mine.
I felt a sickening jolt in my stomach. I grabbed the undergarments, holding them up in disbelief, my vision blurring with anger and hurt. I wasn‘ t stupid. I knew
what this meant.
Without even thinking, I stormed out of the
bathroom.
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“Landon!” I called, my voice trembling with a mix of fury and disbelief.
He glanced up, eyebrows raised in mild surprise, but there was no real concern on his face. “Yeah? What’s up?”
I tossed the undergarments onto the coffee table in front of him, my breath shaky as I struggled to keep my voice steady. “What the hell is this?”
“Oh, those,” he said casually like it was no big deal. “It’s Daisy‘ s.”
My blood turned to ice. “Daisy‘ s?” I echoed.
“Yeah, she got caught in the rain a few days ago when we were coming back from that client meeting. She didn’t have any extra clothes, so I let her come up here to change.”
“You let her change here, and just leave her things lying around like this?” I snapped.
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Landon shrugged, barely meeting my gaze as he glanced back down at his phone. “It wasn’t a big deal, Callie. You weren’t home, and she was soaked. What was I supposed to do? Let her catch a cold?”
“You’re making this into something it’s not, Callie. It was just an act of kindness. Don’t make it weird,” he added.
