Chapter 1

I found a line of text in Julian’s phone notes.

"Wait for her to bring up the breakup. That way, I won't have to be the bad guy."

The date was from three months ago.

Three months ago was exactly when he started working late, forgetting our anniversary, and taking days to reply to my texts.

I scrolled down.

Day 15: She didn’t bring it up. I made a terrible dinner on purpose, but she ate it and said it was delicious.

Day 38: I picked her up two hours late. She just said, "It's fine."

Day 67: I forgot her birthday. She ordered her own cake and even saved a slice for me.

Day 90: I’ve gone this far. Why hasn’t she left yet?

The last entry was written just this afternoon:

"Forget it. I’m too tired. I’ll just lay it all out tonight."

I put his phone down.

In the living room, Julian was sitting on the couch, looking like he was trying to find the right words.

"Chloe, I have something—"

"You don't need to say it," I said, grabbing my purse. "Your notes app said it all."

"These ninety days, you were tired."

"Do you think I wasn't?"

"The difference is, you were pretending to lose feelings. But I was fighting with everything I had to keep us going."