(Zara)
Ryan was waiting outside my building when I got home.
I saw him before he saw me, and for one second I thought about driving past, circling the block until he gave up. But I'd spent three years managing his moods, softening my own life to fit around his, and I was done bending myself into smaller shapes for that man. So I parked. I got out. I walked toward my own front door like he wasn't standing between me and it.
"Zara." He pushed off the wall. "You won't take my calls."
"Because I don't want to talk to you. That's usually what it means."
"Five minutes." He had his hands up, the way he did when he wanted to look reasonable. "That's all. Five minutes and I'll go."
"You'll go now."
"I made a mistake." He said it fast, like he'd been holding it since the doorstep. "With Chloe
