Page 14 of The Devoted Husband

For the last week, Atlas was pleased. Sade hadn’t been responding to the text messages. He believed he still had a chance. That changed that afternoon. It appeared she finally lost her ability to ignore him.

DoNotAnswer:I’m in Cali...Think I’m gonna go to that Mexican spot you love. The one in Old Town that makes the tortillas in front of you.

DoNotAnswer:Remember when we did the tequila tour and got fucked up? I think we hit every Mexican spot and tequila bar on that block.

DoNotAnswer:I wish you were here with me . . . smiling wide . . . toasting tequila . . . eating good . . . making love on the beach. I love you, Smiley. I’ve always loved you. I hope one day you will let me show you that.

DoNotAnswer:I’ll always be your devoted husband. You’ll always be my loyal wife. And my best friend.

Sade:God, I miss you so much it hurts.

DoNotAnswer:You don’t have to. Tell me where you are, and I’ll come to you.

Sade:I can’t, babe.

DoNotAnswer:Why not?

Sade:You didn’t choose me. You always chose her. Regardless of how toxic our relationship was, that was my sister.

DoNotAnswer:Quite frankly...I don’t care about any of that. I want you, and I’m going to have you. We got years of making up to do...but I’ll wait until you’re ready.

DoNotAnswer:Meet me where you are.

Sade:Dante . . .

DoNotAnswer:Go to a Mexican restaurant and eat at the same time as me. I’d love to see you or hear your voice, but just knowing you’re doing the same thing as me at the same time will be enough.

It took a while, but eventually, Sade agreed. Now, Atlas was seated in the booth behind her. She was so frazzled over what she was doing she barely took in her surroundings. Even if she had, the hat and shades Atlas wore would have made it difficult for her to recognize him. He’d purposely hung his head and casually made his way into the booth as she ordered what she always did—chicken fajitas.

When the waitress came to take his order, he pointed silently at the first thing on the menu to get her to walk away. He didn’t have an appetite, but Atlas didn’t want to risk being asked to leave if he didn’t order something.

Sade released a shaky breath before sending Dante a Facetime request. As soon as it connected, she began to sob.

“Sade . . .” Dante said. “Baby, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t say,” she whined. “I messed up badly, Tay. I-I never should’ve ended things the way I did.”

“It’s okay, Smiley. We can fix this.”

She shook her head adamantly. “Not after what I did.”

“Is this about the money? I told you I don’t care about that.”

Sniffling, Sade wiped her face. “No, it’s not the money.”

“Then what is it?”

Atlas waited, hoping she wouldn’t mention the baby. If she didn’t, there was still hope. There was still hope that she would choose him over Dante.

“Can we just...eat and act like what happened didn’t happen? I really just need a moment with my best friend.”

Dante didn’t respond immediately, but when he did, it was with, “Whatever you need.”

Atlas sat there for an hour and forty-five minutes, listening to them laugh and reminisce. Though they didn’t talk about their love for each other or a future, Atlas realized at that moment their bond was deeper than Sade had been alluding to lately.

Did she not love him because she loved Dante?

Had she been playing him all along?

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