Page 57 of Little Gray Dress

“This.” She holds up a bright purple bra.

“That’s mine.” I grab it from her just as the front door clicks open. “Oh my God,” I whisper at her, hoping to God it’s just the super checking on us.

“Hello?” Jack’s voice comes booming through the apartment.

“I left my purse out there,” Lily whispers, running to my side.

“Emi?” He walks down the hallway, our eyes momentarily meeting before his gaze moves to the bra hanging from my fingers. “What—” He looks around the room, spotting Lily cowering behind me. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“Jack… I… uh… wanted to surprise you, with dinner, so I went to your office but Rachel said you were here.”

“So then, why is Lily hiding behind you?” he asks, with no emotion on his face.

“We couldn’t find you so we thought we’d check in here. We just got here.”

“And how did you get in?” He’s being really hard to read right now.

“The super let me in.” I watch Jack’s brow furrow and his lips pinch together.

“I’m just going to wait for you in the car.” Lily runs past us and is out of the front door before I can object.

“If you thought I was here, why did you get the super?” He grabs a picture frame still in my hand and sets it back on the dresser where it belongs. “I’m confused. And where is this dinner?”

There is no way I can continue to lie my way through this. “I must’ve been so excited to see you I left dinner in the car, I got our favorite, though. Past—” But I am obviously going to try the lying. At this point what else have I got to lose?

“Ems, Rachel called me a few minutes ago to tell me you were upset I didn’t tell you I was going out of town.”

“Oh.”

“I was going to call you after I got back, but… here you are, sneaking around my apartment. Why are you really here?”

Of course, he sees right through my lies. As he should, it’s not like we’ve been dating for just a couple of weeks. It’s been a couple of years.

“I don’t know, Jack… You act like I’m at the bottom of your list lately, so I wanted to find out what you’re really up to. Why you don’t treat me like you used to.”

“So, you snuck into my apartment to – what? Look for another woman?”

“NO.”

Jack frowns at me.

“Fine, yes. That’s exactly what I was doing.”

“The dinner story was a lie?”

“Yes… no! I have dinner, and dessert, but I didn’t think you were here so I just came up to see if you were with—” I pause momentarily, knowing if I say it out loud I’m going to sound like a complete pathetic jealous girlfriend.

“You just came up here to see if I was with someone else. Got it. It’s nice to know after two years of dating that you don’t trust me at all.”

“I do trust you! But you never talk to me anymore.”

“I’m busy, Ems, trying to make partner at the firm. We’ve talked about this. I’m basically at Andy’s disposal until he decides I’ve earned this. Why can’t you understand this?”

“Because I don’t know why it means I’m last in your life,” I whine. “It’s not fair.”

“It’s also not fair you’re digging around my apartment, is it?” I watch Jack roll his eyes at the bra I’m still holding and walk past me to sit on the edge of his bed. “Listen, I think maybe we should take a break until I’ve done some thinking.”

“What do you mean, a break?” My voice cracks as I ask it, knowing exactly what he means.

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