“Grace, what’s going on? What are you doing here?” Autumn asked as I stood on her front porch with my suitcase. When life fell apart, I was always thankful that best friends existed.
“Sorry I just stopped by without calling, but my phone died, my car died, and…” I paused briefly as my eyes watered over. “I think my marriage died, too!” I sobbed, covering my face with my hands. I shook my head back and forth and took a breath, trying to pull myself together as best I could. Autumn’s eyes watered over, and she placed her hands against her chest. We were those kinds of friends—whenever one cried, the other’s tears weren’t that far behind.
“Oh my gosh, Grace…” she whispered, her voice cracking.
“I was just hoping I could stay here for a while,” I told her, walking into her place with my suitcase. “I would’ve asked you earlier, but for some reason, I thought Finn would come around and still want me.”
I sat down on the couch and took in a few deep breaths as my head stayed lowered.
My heart, my brain, and my body were all exhausted.
It had been a long day.
“I just…I wish you would’ve called,” Autumn said flatly.
“Yeah, but I know how busy you’ve been,” I said, looking up toward her. Tears were still falling from her eyes, and the heaviness in her stare seemed almost as sad as I felt.
“It’s okay, Autumn. I know I’m a bit of a mess, but I’m better now that I’m…” I glanced at her table, where one glass of water and one opened beer sat. Autumn didn’t drink beer. She always thought it tasted like garbage. “I’m sorry, do you have company?” My chest tightened. Then, I noted a small red thong under her chair. “Oh my gosh, are you on a date? I’m so sorry! I should’ve called.”
“Grace…” she whispered.
Her lips parted once more, but she couldn’t speak. Her body trembled, and no words were coming out of her mouth. I looked around her place and noticed a pair of tennis shoes…shoes I’d seen before. Then there was a shirt sitting on her chair.
My eyes zoomed in on the yellow polo.
I slowly stood and walked over to it.
“Gracelyn,” Autumn whimpered, but now I knew the tears weren’t falling for me, but rather for her own emotions.
I picked up the yellow polo, studying it. It had a rip under the arm and a nasty stain on the bottom that wouldn’t come out no matter how hard I tried.
I looked up at my friend.
My best friend.
My person.
My life.
Fire burned in my stomach, and tears flowed from her eyes. She became overwhelmed with emotion and began sobbing uncontrollably.
“It was you…?” I whispered.
“Oh my gosh, Grace!” she cried. Her hand landed over her mouth to control her sobbing mess, but still, I watched her fall apart in front of me.
It was her.
Not a random woman, but her.
Her.
Autumn.
The woman who’d been through wars with me.
I hadn’t been able to really get in touch with her lately, and when I had, she’d ended our calls fast, always telling me she’d call me back, yet she never had.
I understood now.
What I didn’t understand was how she could have done this to me.
She’d been in my home. We’d laughed together. She’d told me how amazing Finn and I were as a couple. She’d said she envied us. I’d cooked dinner for her and her ex-boyfriend Erik. When Erik had cheated on her, I’d comforted her, telling her she was better off without him and she’d find someone worthy of her love.
I hadn’t meant my husband.
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she said, still crying.
I felt her tears against my cheeks.
Wait, no…
Those were my own tears. The disbelief of it all shook me to my core. How was this a thing? This couldn’t be a thing. I felt as if I were in a nightmare, unable to open my eyes and wake up safely in my warm bed. Was it all a mirage? Autumn would never do that to me. Finn would never hurt me in that way—at least that was what I’d thought. As it turned out, though, my thoughts were wrong, and their hearts were jaded.
I blinked my eyes, but still, I saw her.
My stare scanned up and down her body, taking in every inch of her. I studied her curves. I studied her tears. She was a beautiful crier. I hated that even when she cried, she looked like a goddess. She looked like everything I hadn’t been in so, so long.
Oh.
That hurts.
“Is he here?” I choked out, standing tall yet feeling as if I were crashing down. She just kept crying. He was there. Those were his tennis shoes. I puffed out my chest. “Finley!” I shouted as I darted through her house.
I knew every inch of Autumn’s home. I knew every corner. When she’d moved in, I’d taken a weekend trip back to Chester just to help her organize it. I checked the closets, the bathroom, the corners, under the beds.
When I opened the pantry door, my heart clenched, and those blue eyes stared straight into mine. My husband was hiding beside the garlic powder and sea salt in an attempt to avoid coming face to face with me.
Shirtless.
“Grace—” he started, but he shut up quickly when I slapped my hand against his face. “Shit!” he hollered.
“Oh my God!” I cried, feeling overwhelmed by betrayal, pain, and sadness. My hands flew over my mouth. “Oh my God, oh my God!”
I was an ugly crier. I could only imagine how hideous I looked in that moment.
I looked nothing like her.
There were so many nights of my life I’d wished I looked like her.
“I’m so sorry.” Autumn sobbed, holding her hands over her heart as she continued to fall apart. “I’m so, so sorry, Grace,” she repeated, and every time she spoke, I thought about dying right then and there.
I pushed past her, rushing out the front door. My vision blurred, my mind jumbling. I couldn’t think straight.
“Grace.” I heard him behind me, and I flinched at the sound of his voice. That voice had once filled me with so much happiness. It was what I had fallen in love with—so smooth, so deep—was now so unbelievably hurtful.
“No,” I said adamantly, watching Finn emerge from inside my personal hell and walk toward me. He wasn’t irritated with me like he had been in Atlanta, but the guilt swam in his eyes. “Don’t talk to me.”
“I just…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t know how to tell you. We didn’t know how to—”
“Autumn, really?!” I cried, shoving my hands against his chest. “My Autumn! You-you-you monster!”
He let me hit him, and that made me angry. I wanted him to fight back. I wanted him to lay his hands on my body instead of delivering blows to my heart. I wanted it to hurt. “You said she meant nothing to you. You said she meant nothing! You slept with my best friend!”
“I know. I mean, we…it’s…”
“I swear to God, Finley, if you say it’s complicated, I will rip your head off your body.” I never swore to God unless I truly meant it.
“I still care about you, Grace. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to hurt you,” he said.
Slap.
I slapped him again, and again, and again. How could he use those words? How could he say that to me? How could a small corner of my heart somehow stupidly believe him?
“How long?” I asked him.
“Grace…”
“How. Long?”
He lowered his head. “Since I moved back here.”
“Wait…so she wasn’t…” I took a breath. “You cheated on me with someone else before her?”
“Gracelyn—”
“Were there more? More than the two of them?”
He went mute.
Ohmygosh.
“I hate you,” I pushed out. “I hate you. I hate you!” I kept hitting him. My hands slammed into his body repeatedly, and he didn’t even try to stop me because he knew he deserved it.
“I was going to tell you. I just…” He swallowed hard. “After everything we went through—”