No More Waiting, She Chooses Love novel Chapter 3

My brain got stuck in a loop all day, wrestling with this issue that refused to budge. Even when Conrad came by to pick me up in the afternoon, I was still clueless. But I went along anyway.

The habit was a scary thing. Over a decade, I had grown so used to Conrad and returning to the Wagner family after work.-

"What's up with the silence?" Conrad sensed my mood because he broke the quiet on the way.

I hesitated for seconds. "Conrad, maybe we should just..."

I couldn't even finish my sentence before his phone went off. The car's Bluetooth showed an anonymous number lighting up the screen, and I noticed Conrad's grip on the steering wheel tightened. He was nervous, a rare sight.

Instinctively, I glanced at his face, but he was already dismissing the call on the car system, switching to his mobile's Bluetooth. "Hello... Okay, I'm on my way."

The call was brief. After hanging up, Conrad glanced over at me. "Felicia, something's come up. I can't take you home."

I knew it before he said he was going to ditch me. It wasn't the first time. But still, part of me had hoped he'd drop me first.

A sharp pang of hurt hit me, but I swallowed my sadness. "Is everything okay?"

Conrad tightened his jaw and stayed silent, just gazing through the windshield. "You can get out here and take a cab home."

He didn’t even bother to give me a proper explanation, just a dismissal. What else could I say? To probe or to fuss would just be embarrassing myself.

"Text me when you get home," Conrad said as he pulled over to a temporary parking spot on the side of the road.

I gripped my bag tighter and got off. It wasn't just my sensitivity. I had a feeling from when Conrad saw the incoming call to his refusal to answer it in my presence. But I didn't ask, nor did I say anything. Some truths were like a thin sheet of glass, kept intact only for self-deception.

"Be careful on your way!" He tossed me the line in a rush but eventually sped off.

I stood there, watching him drive away until my eyes began to sting, and I finally looked down at my feet.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, a call from my best friend, Fanny Willis.

"Hey, where are you? Dinner tonight?" she asked.