Page 118 of Payoff Pitch
“Years ago. Just after Fallon and I separated.”
My whole body starts trembling. Tears immediately freefall from my eyes. This feels like such a betrayal.
“W…why didn’t you tell me?”
“Why would I? I told you we had no future, that I wasn’t getting married, and that I was never having more kids.”
My heart feels like it’s breaking into a million pieces. I have physical pain shooting across my chest.
He tries to take my hand, but I pull it away. For months I’ve been thinking he was falling for me like I was falling for him. That he wanted a future with me, despite the words he had said about us not having one. I thought his heart would overrule them. I was so wrong.
“A lie by omission is still a lie. You’re not naïve. You know I’ve been falling for you, and you said nothing. You let me believe this was real.”
“Itisreal.”
“Bullshit! That’s right, I cursed.”
“Bailey, can’t we just stay—”
I shake my head as everything around me is blurred by the excessive tears in my eyes. “I’ve had you on this pedestal the whole time, but at the end of the day, you’re nothing but a coward. I can’t believe you withheld this from me.”
Suddenly, this car feels suffocating. I need to get out. I need my sister.
I open the door and practically fall out of it, not having full use of my limbs. My whole body is shaking.
He immediately exits the car and runs around to me. I’m having trouble walking. The ground feels wavy. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so betrayed or heartbroken in my life.
He again tries to touch me, but I pull away. “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again. You’re a liar and a fraud. You can’t tell me things like,I never want this feeling to go away. You can’t tell me that I’m all you see. You can’t spend months making love to me with nothing between us. Coming inside me. Claiming me.” I point at him. “I know you told me that we would never be more, but everything else you’ve said and done suggests otherwise and you fucking know it.”
He does nothing but hang his head. He knows I’m right.
I wipe my eyes and try to channel the inner strength of my sister. Holding my head up, I say, “Goodbye, Mr. Montgomery.”
Tears fill his eyes. “Baby, don’t leave like this.”
I shoot him an icy glare. “Don’t call me baby or sweet girl or anything that makes me think you give a shit about me. I know you don’t.”
“That’s not—”
“What were you going to say?That’s not true? What do you know about truth? You don’t care about me. You made a twenty-eight-year-old woman fall in love with you when there was never any remote hope for the future. This wasn’t a one-night stand or a casual hookup and you know it. It’s been six months. Six fucking months of me falling in love with you. You sat back and said nothing as I fell a little harder each and every day.” I poke him in the chest. “You knew. Don’t pretend you didn’t.”
He closes his eyes. He knows I’m right. He knows what he did.
“Tell Harper that I’ll pick her up from school on Monday for softball practice. You can contact me as it pertains to Harper, but otherwise don’t call, don’t text, don’t even talk to me.”
I turn and walk toward my car.Mycar. That’s not even really mine. I need to buy one of my own. I don’t want anything from him.
Thirty minutes later,I walk into our apartment. Kam’s face is buried in her computer, but she says, “Are you fucking kidding me sending me those photos and then going radio silent? Did you jump out of a fucking airplane? Are you insane?”
She lifts her head. Her smile immediately fades when she sees my tear-stained face. She jumps up and runs to me. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
I fall into her arms. “He had a vasectomy. He strung me along, making me feel hopeful about a future when there is none.”
She squeezes me tight into her comforting arms. “Oh, Bails. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I…I thought he loved me too.” I weep into her chest. She has to hold me upright or I’ll collapse to the ground.
She rubs my hair. “I know you’re hurting, but didn’t he tell you from the beginning that you guys weren’t long term? That he didn’t want marriage and more kids?”