My Fiancé Chose His Ex, So I Chose Myself novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: My Window

Shayla's post had gone up at 8:15.

It was a photo of my kitchen.

My white oak cabinets. My farmhouse sink. A mug of coffee on my counter, steam curling up, in my mug with the little painted thimble on it.

"Home sweet home," she'd written. "Some things just go back where they belong."

By Saturday morning it had two hundred likes.

"I'm borrowing my cousin's truck," Bonnie said. "And his dolly. And my husband's hammer, because he won't notice."

"We're not using a hammer."

"We're bringing a hammer. Whether we use it is between you and God."

At nine we pulled up in front of Clint's gray Craftsman in a lifted blue pickup with a mattress strap flapping off the tailgate.

The rain had thinned to a cold mist.

Clint's truck wasn't in the driveway.

A white Audi was. Shayla's.

I walked up the porch steps and pressed my thumb to the pad, because I wanted to know.

ACCESS DENIED.

I knocked.

Nothing.

I knocked again, harder, and Bonnie leaned on the doorbell and didn't let go.

The door opened six inches on the chain.

Shayla stood in the gap holding my thimble mug.

She was wearing my robe.

My green flannel robe with the frayed cuff, the one I'd had since college. She had it belted tight, with the collar turned up.

"Oh," she said. "It's you."

"I'm here for my mother's things."

"What things?"

"The sewing machine in the sunroom. A wedding dress in a white bag in the hall closet. A blue velvet box on the dresser. My clothes."

She took a sip from my mug.

"I don't see any of that."

"It's a forty-pound sewing machine, Shayla."

"Then I guess you'll have to come back when Clint's home. He's at his mother's." She smiled. "We're having dinner with her tomorrow. She's thrilled, by the way. She never liked you. She said you dress like a librarian."

Bonnie made a noise beside me.

"Take off her robe," Bonnie said.

"Excuse me?"

"That's her robe. Take it off."

"It was on the hook in my bathroom." Shayla tugged the collar closer to her chin. "Finders keepers."

She shut the door.

The chain rattled. The deadbolt turned.

I stood there on the porch for a second.

Then I went down the steps and around the side of the house, through the wet grass and the gate with the sticky latch.

The sunroom sat off the back of the kitchen.

Glass on three sides, a glass door with a brass handle, white trim I painted myself on a ladder in August while Clint golfed.

← Chapter 3 · All chapters · Chapter 5 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend