Tipsy

Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mikah

With warm bagels and coffee in hand, I entered the apartment. I'd only been gone an hour, but I was ready to be back in bed with Hallie. It was the only way I wanted to spend my holiday. Naked and holding her... nothing sounded better.

I placed the bag of bagels on the counter. There was an assortment of flavors and various cream cheeses, but I pulled out a blueberry for Hallie. My shoes were barely kicked off when she strode through the living room with a duffle bag slung over her arm.

"Where are you going?" I asked, holding up the bagel.

My nerves knotted as soon as she turned to me. She'd been crying, and that was definitely not the sleepy girl I'd left in my bed this morning. Hallie's head shook at me. I'd seen Hallie pissed at me many times—sometimes furiously. This wasn't that. I'd made her not want to speak to me.

I tossed the bagel back in the bag as she put on her shoes. My arms crossed, waiting for to explain what I'd done. But they uncrossed the moment she reached for the doorknob. I bolted for her. I didn't get there soon enough to hold the door shut, but I stopped enough to not let her pass through it.

"Hallie, talk to me."

She tried to push her way past me, but her tiny frame would not get past me that easily. "Let me out."

"No."

"Mikah, I mean it."

"What the hell, Hal? What is going on with you?"

As I attempted to cradle her face, my hand was slapped away. Her tear-soaked eyes wouldn't even look at me. I was wracking my brain, trying to remember anything that could have made her do a one-eighty from last night. I'd been in many arguments that didn't go in my favor over the last few years with Shelby, but whatever I'd done hurt Hallie badly. The only thing I could think of was... oh shit.

"The blog?"

Heavier tears caved from her lower lashes. I wanted to wipe them away, but she was beyond upset with me right now. But part of me was upset too. The only way she could have found out about that was my phone—the one I'd left in the pocket of pants last night, but was now sitting right beside the bag of bagels. I hadn't even noticed its movement.

"You went through my phone?" I asked.

"Well, your fiancée called multiple times. Seems she's really missing those kisses she got a few weeks ago..."

"You know she's not my fiancée, Hallie."

She scoffed. "Funny, because she doesn't. I should have known that the ring still being in your top drawer meant something."

If something meant forgetting it was in there until I opened the drawer, then yes. Shelby had not even been on my mind as of late. I'd been dodging phone calls and messages for weeks, and honestly, I knew it wasn't the right thing to do. While I'd never forgiven her for the night I proposed to her, she didn't deserve what I'd been doing for the last few years. The sleeping together, the false hope... I should have ended it a long time ago. I knew she would backfire in my face, but I thought that lashing would come from my family, not the woman I'd fallen for.

"Hallie, Shelby and I aren't a thing. She kissed me over Thanksgiving. It was weird, and I haven't talked to her since. I will call her right now and tell her that if I need to."

While she paused, her head shook no, because she knew better. She knew when I said I was all in last night that I meant it.

"You have been lying to me from the start." She sobbed, dropping her head into her hands to shield her face. "All those times we were together, you were using my list against me."