He Always Said Yes, But Never Heard Me Until I Left Chapter 08

It took him a long time to respond.

Reid: [Did you send the ring back too?]

The engagement ring had been delivered and signed for three days earlier.

I forwarded him the delivery confirmation.

Paige was listed as the recipient.

At that very moment, Paige was standing in front of Reid.

Looking at the delivery record on his phone, she explained that she’d been waiting for the right time to give him the ring.

“You’ve already been through enough. I didn’t want to make you feel worse.”

Reid held out his hand.

“Give it to me.”

Paige didn’t move.

“She’s only sending it back because she wants you to keep begging her. If you keep giving her everything she wants, she’ll just…”

“I said, give it to me.”

Finally, she pulled a small box from her bag.

Inside were the ring and a form confirming the returned items.

Reid turned the box over, checked the bottom, then started opening the outer shipping bag.

Paige couldn’t help speaking up.

“There’s no letter. I already checked.”

He stopped.

After a long silence, he put the ring back in the box.

“Give me your key to the house.”

Paige’s expression changed.

“What?”

“From now on, you’re not handling my personal calls or making arrangements for my private life.”

“Make a list of everything related to my personal affairs and turn it all over to me.”

She stared at him, her eyes slowly filling with tears.

Just then, a meeting reminder sounded.

As she always did, she held his earbuds out to him, softening her voice.

“You should get back to work. We shouldn’t let something like this interfere with anything

important.”

Reid didn’t take them.

Instead, he messaged the person running the meeting and told them to start without him and

follow the agenda.

Then he pushed the earbuds back toward her.

“Give me the key first.”

Paige looked at him, and the tears finally spilled over.

“I spent all those nights keeping you company and helping you with everything. And now you can just tell me you don’t need me anymore, like none of it ever mattered?”

Reid stared at the earbuds in her hand.

He thought of all those nights he’d listened to her talk about her cat refusing to eat, someone upsetting her, or what she felt like having for dinner.

He remembered every conversation.

And all that time, on the other side of the wall, someone else had been curled up under a blanket,

waiting for morning.

Paige waited a long time, but no words of comfort came.

Finally, she threw the key onto the table.

It landed with a faint metallic clink. Reid didn’t look up.

That evening, I received a message from Paige.

Paige: [Happy now? He won’t even take my calls anymore.]

I replied.

Me: [Have you found my pendant?]

The typing indicator wouldn’t go away.

Eventually, she sent a long message.

She accused me of blaming her for everything, insisted she’d been hurt too, and said Reid was only acting this way because he felt guilty. Once that guilt wore off, she warned, I might not get this kind of treatment from him again.

I sent her the original photo once more.

Me: [If you can’t find it, let me know. I have proof of purchase, and we can discuss compensation.]

She didn’t reply.

On the third day, Reid arranged to have the pendant returned to me.

He’d tracked down the makeup artist from the wedding and eventually found it in a fabric pouch containing hair accessories.

Before having it delivered, he sent me a photo and asked me to confirm it was the right one.

Once I’d checked, I had my friend accept the delivery for me.

My friend sent Reid confirmation that she’d received it, but he asked if she could pass along a message from him.

She handed me her phone.

I glanced at the screen and shook my head.

My friend replied: [All the items have been returned. There’s no need to pass along any other

messages.]

That night, I finished organizing my jewelry and turned off my old phone.

I had a job interview out of town the next day. From the living room, Mom called out to ask whether

I’d packed all the documents I needed.

I told her I had, then went to double-check my ticket.