I sat on the porch of my childhood home, toggling through my laptop. I had a dozen different things running through my mind. Scheduling classes for my next semester. Working in my required internship for the year. Researching areas in Los Angeles that would be good for a practice like mine. It all hit me at once and my bedroom had been a little too stifling to deal with all of my rambling thoughts. So I picked up my notebook, my laptop, and my lemonade and I went to sit on the porch.

The sunset always calmed me, especially as it started to dip over the trees of our property.

I scrolled through my list of confirmed classes and started stacking up the required books. That had to be my biggest culture shock when it came to getting my Master’s. I didn’t have as many required hours as my undergraduate degree, but it seemed as if I had almost twice as many books. Thankfully, I had a scholarship and an approved federal loan I could use to order my books for the next semester. And if I worked my ass off while I was at school, I could foot the bill myself for the last of my books for my last semester.

Hopefully.

After ordering over two thousand dollars worth of books and making myself sick on the amount of reading I’d have to do over the course of the back end of my year, I flipped back over to the vacant properties tab I had open. I scrolled through and jotted down some places that caught my eye, then wrote down information I’d need for the building. Things like issues I already saw in the pictures, the asking price, what I felt I could get the building for, location, possible renovation and updating that needed to happen. I didn’t want to go into something like this without being fully prepared with questions and armed with knowledge I’d picked up from my father over the years.

I flipped back and forth between my school plan and my business plan. When I got fed up with one of them, I’d hop over to the other. The sun sank below the trees, coating me in the first shreds of darkness as cool air trickled over my arms. I crunched numbers and plotted out classes. I downloaded pictures of properties onto my laptop and took note of phone numbers to call. I ran my brain ragged with business plans and internship requirements, so when my phone rang out on the glass table I mindlessly picked it up.

And I really shouldn't have done that.

“Callie Roper speaking.”

“I’m glad you finally picked up.”

My pen dropped from my hand and my head whipped up from my notebook.

“Matthew?” I asked.

“Have you already deleted my number?” he asked.

“I should.”

“So you didn’t look at your caller I.D. What has your attention?”

“It’s none of your business. What do you want?” I asked.

“I want to talk with you, Callie. You know this.”

“Why can’t you just leave me alone? We already talked. We already decided things.”

“No. You walked in, threw your ring at me, and told me never to contact you.”

“After telling you it was over and that I never wanted to see you again. If that doesn't sound final enough to you, I don’t know what will once we sit down and talk,” I said.

“I just want to take you to dinner. Anywhere you want to go. I want to talk face-to-face, Callie. I’m really not asking much here.”

“Dinner isn’t going to happen. Not now. Not ever.”

“Fine. Coffee. I’ll take you to coffee.”

“That’s not happening, either.”

“Then what will happen? What will it take for you to sit down like an adult and speak with me like one?” he asked.

“You know, you keep saying that as if I’m acting like a child.”

“You did get your uncle to answer the phone for you that one time. His threats were a nice touch, though. Did you come up with those?”

“After you kept harassing me and refused to leave me alone, yes. I had one of the only men I do trust pick up the phone for me thinking maybe he could get the point across. But apparently, that didn’t happen. Since you’re still bugging me.”

“I’m just asking for a conversation. I want to talk with you, not be talked at by you. Yes, you threw the ring at me. Yes, you said we were over. But you didn’t give me a chance to speak at all. You just walked out.”

“Because you were dick-deep in the woman you said you’d cut things off with,” I said.

“And I want a chance to rectify that.”

“You’ve rectified enough in the media.”

“So, you saw that.”

“Yes, Matthew. I saw it. And it was a cheap shot. I’ve had to delete all of my corresponding social media accounts and take myself completely offline because I’ve got people I don’t even know harassing me alongside you trying to get me to talk with you.”

“Maybe they have a point,” he said.

“Are you serious? Is this what you wanted? You think that because I won’t take your phone calls or answer your text messages that you can use the media to stir up the public so they’ll guilt-trip me into talking with you?”

“Callie, the only reason I’m speaking to the media is because you won’t speak to me. So, I hoped to reach you through them.”

“Good talk. Thanks for calling. But this is the only time I’m going to speak with you, so make sure you’ve said whatever it is you have to say. Because when we hang up this phone, you will leave me alone. Or I’ll get a lawyer involved to make sure you do,” I said.

“You sound like your uncle.”

“I sound like a woman being harassed by a man throwing a tantrum.”

“I won’t leave you alone until we talk. Even if I have to come to your house, Callie. I will get you to sit down with me. Because I know we can work this out. You’re worth working this out with.”

“That would be a bad idea if you came here. Don’t you dare do that.”

“Why? Because your uncle doesn't want me to?”

“Because I don’t want to see you,” I said with exaggeration.

“I love you, Callie.”

“I don’t believe this,” I groaned.

“That’s not past tense. I love you. I still love you. I can’t get you off my mind. I can’t sleep without you next to me. And I know that if we sit down and talk like we always did, you’ll like what I have to say.”

“Damn it, Matthew. I’m tired of this game.”

“If you ever loved me, Callie, you’d sit down and at least give me the chance at closure. If you don’t want to continue things, fine. But we spent years together. If you ever cared for me at all, at least give me a chance at closure so I can move on the way you obviously already have.”

I scoffed as I leaned back into my chair.

“You’re not going to get any closure after screwing around with another woman. You’re the one who did this to us. Not me. You don’t get to make demands when you’re the one who ruined us,” I said.

“She didn’t mean anything, Callie. I told you this.”

“But she meant enough to fuck around with a second time after you agreed to let her go so we could seek help together.”

“Callie, I--.”

“Why did it go on so long?”

The phone call fell silent and I drew in a deep breath.

“It wasn’t a one-time thing. It wasn’t a, ‘whoops, I got drunk and my dick slipped’ thing. It was on-going. Progressive. And you went back. Or, you didn’t stop when you told me you did. Either way, it was worth lying to me about. And you say she didn’t mean anything?” I asked.

“This is why we need to talk face-to-face, Callie. You have questions, and so do I.”

“Goodbye, Matthew. For good. I don’t want to talk, I don’t want to see you, and I don’t want you back.”

“Callie, wait--!”

I hung up the phone and tossed it onto the glass table. The sun had fully sunken beyond the trees and the stars twinkled above my head. It should have been a beautiful experience, but deep down I ached. I felt my heart crumbling into a million pieces on the concrete floor beneath my feet. I closed my eyes and willed my tears to stay at bay. I would shed no more tears for that pathetic excuse of a man. But deep down, I was worried. Matthew had been persistent in calling. Texting. And now that I had picked up the phone to him, I knew the psychological treat that gave men like him. It taught him that if he could be persistent enough, he’d get my attention. Even if it was an accident on my part not to check my caller I.D.

I was scared he’d come by the house to try and see me. Because I knew that if he showed up while my father and Colton were here, he’d never make it out alive.