My Best Friend Changed Boyfriends Weekly… Until She Chose My Ten-Year Fiancé Chapter 09

I’d planned to stay away for Thanksgiving.

But it happened to coincide with the company’s twentieth anniversary gala, and I needed to return for my

quarterly review anyway.

So on the last day before the holiday, my plane touched down in the city I knew so well.

The family group chat, usually so quiet, had been buzzing all week.

My parents had asked me several times if I was coming back. I said no every time.

The group used to have five people in it.

The day they found out about my accident, it dropped to four.

And the day after Damon flew to my new city, it went back to the original three.

They were in there debating the holiday dinner menu.

When I stayed silent the whole time, my mother finally tagged me.

“Lindsay, come back. It’s just your father and me here now. Nobody else.”

I gave her the same words.

“I’m not coming back.”

After the anniversary gala ended, I didn’t go back to the hotel.

I took a cab home instead, to pack up the things I hadn’t taken the first time.

When I opened the door, Damon was there.

The house looked emptier. The spots where my things used to be were bare, and so were the corners that

had been piled with Chloe’s stuff.

When he saw me, Damon lit up.

He came over to take my suitcase and hefted it. It was very light.

He froze.

I ignored him. I opened the case and stuffed in the rest of the clothes from the closet.

His face went completely white.

“Lindsay, you’re moving out?”

I nodded.

He stood to the side, watching me, like he had a thousand things to say.

In the end, he said none of them.

A knock sounded at the door.

Damon hesitated, then walked over.

He glanced through the peephole, and his expression turned strange.

It was Chloe.

He stood at the door and didn’t open it.

Instead, he looked at me nervously. “I didn’t ask her to come. I haven’t been in touch with her for a long time.”

Chloe kept knocking. Sobs filtered through the door, mixed with a neighbor’s scolding.

I sighed and opened the door for her.

The moment she saw me, her expression flickered.

But the next second, she smoothed it over and rushed in to hug me.

“Lindsay, you’re back?”

Her movements were careful, hesitant. But I still stepped aside.

Her arms hung frozen in midair. Tears pooled in her eyes before she forced them back.

She gave an awkward laugh. “I forgot you were hurt before. I shouldn’t touch you. Did I scare you?”

Damon was still blocking the doorway, making it clear she wasn’t welcome in.

His brow furrowed. “Why are you here?”

She kept her head down, her voice full of hurt. “Damon, it’s the holiday today. I have nowhere to go.”

“Nowhere to go or not, you shouldn’t be here.”

At that, she bowed her head lower, biting her lip and letting out muffled sobs. Tears splashed onto the white

porcelain tiles.

“You can’t throw me out. Lindsay opened the door for me.”

She looked up at me.

“Lindsay, I have nowhere to go. Can I stay here?”

My hands paused mid-fold.

“Whatever.”

Her eyes brightened.

“Anyway, this isn’t my home.”

I added, “I opened the door because I didn’t want you causing a scene and bothering the neighbors on a

holiday.”

Damon’s face darkened, and he moved to throw her out.

“Damon, don’t.”

She turned to me instead.

“Lindsay, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I was out of my mind. Please forgive me. You’re all I have left.”

I looked at her. “You don’t know you were wrong. You just have nowhere left to run.”

“Chloe, if I could do it all over again, I would never have brought you home.”

She froze. Her sobs grew louder and louder until they turned into heart-wrenching cries.

In the end, Damon still threw her out.

When the door closed, the house fell quiet.

I zipped up my suitcase.

As I passed him, he reached out and grabbed the handle.

He forced out one sentence. “Please don’t go.”

I didn’t look at him.

Slowly, he let go.

The door closed behind me, and muffled sobs came from inside.

I didn’t stop walking. I headed straight out.

Outside, the crisp November wind brushed against my face. A new beginning was waiting for me.

I was ready to leave the past behind.