Love Is Blind, I’m Not Chapter 02

My alarm went off the next morning, and my head was pounding.

I checked the screen: five thirty a.m.

It was the alarm I used to set for Harris, a reminder to grab his coffee.

My apartment was far south in Blackthorn. I had to take two subway lines and wait in a long queue. Year after year, through bitter cold and sweltering heat, I’d gotten up for him.

I tapped delete on that alarm and set a new one for seven.

I closed my eyes again but couldn’t fall back asleep. After lying awake for half an hour, I got up and made breakfast for myself.

I toasted some bread, but the hollow ache in my chest wouldn’t fade.

I pushed the feeling down, finished eating, and headed to work.

Midway through my lunch break, Nicole called.

“Felicity! Come downstairs quick. I’m at the coffee shop by your office building!”

Confused, I went down and spotted Nicole sitting by the window.

She wore an off-white cashmere coat, radiating that soft glow of new love.

I walked over and teased her gently. “Newly in love and you still have time to come find me?”

Nicole pulled a Black Forest cake out of her bag. “Try this. I know it’s your favorite from this shop.”

I lifted my spoon when I heard her sigh. “Felicity, being with Harris is exhausting sometimes.”

“He insists on warm oatmeal every morning. If it’s even a little too hot or too cool, he frowns.”

“He says the oatmeal he had in the hospital was always the perfect temperature and asks why I can’t make it right now.”

“I can’t very well track down his hospital nurse and take lessons from her.”

My chest tightened, sourness rising in my throat.

For those two years in the hospital, to get Harris to eat, I’d hover beside the saucepan, testing the temperature against the back of my hand over and over. I burned my skin repeatedly until I found exactly the warmth he preferred.

I dropped my gaze and murmured, “Guys like him are just used to having everything done a certain way.”

Nicole nodded vigorously. “Exactly. He can be so stubborn sometimes. But if I just pout a little, he softens right away.”

“Felicity, do you think I saved the world in a past life to end up with him?”

I fought the nausea churning in my stomach and forced a weak smile.

“Yeah. You’re lucky.”

I scooped a huge bite of cake onto my spoon. It was cloyingly sweet, yet it couldn’t mask the bitter taste in my throat.

As we talked, a car horn blared outside on the street.

I looked over and saw a black Maybach. Harris climbed out of the back seat and walked toward us.

Nicole’s lips curved. “Felicity, Harris is here to take me for lunch!”

I watched Harris approach, poised and cold, stopping beside Nicole.

He glanced at me, his gaze condescending, tinged with mild curiosity.

“Felicity, was the south side shop closed today?”

His dismissive tone stung.

He must have thought my defiance from last night would only last one evening. That I’d show up this morning, coffee in hand, tail wagging like a scolded puppy.

Nicole blinked and turned to him. “What coffee shop?”

Harris smiled faintly. “Nothing. Just asking.”

I spoke quietly. “It wasn’t closed. I just don’t pass that way anymore.”

Harris had been adjusting Nicole’s scarf. His hands stilled at my words.

He let out a short scoff, a mocking tilt to his mouth. “Is that so? Felicity, I truly hope this backbone of yours lasts longer.”

He didn’t spare me another glance. He took Nicole’s hand and walked out of the coffee shop. The black Maybach merged smoothly into traffic and vanished around the corner.

I sat there, staring at the empty street, feeling like a piece of me had been carved out.

I blinked hard and whispered to myself, “Good job, Felicity.”

The pain of having my heart carved out was terrible, but better than letting it rot inside me.