CHAPTER FOUR

“Call us if you need anything.”

After one last group hug, Lacey’s friends got up and left. Sangah lingered by the door for a few seconds, even after Adi and Maddy were gone. 

“None of this is your fault.”

Those parting words did nothing to soothe Lacey’s heartache, but she forced on a smile for her friend’s sake. With all of them gone, Lacey pulled herself up from the ground and went into hers and Thomas’ room. Well, it was just her room now. 

It was already 3 in the afternoon, but Lacey hadn’t had her bath yet. From when Thomas called her, up until this point, about five hours had gone by. Moving on autopilot, Lacey didn’t put in a lot of effort as she took a quick bath, nor did she pay any mind to the clothes she wore. The thought of carrying on as if her life hadn’t just been disrupted made her want to puke. 

It was at 3:48 that the doorbell rang. Lacey knew the specific time because she had been scrolling through her gallery, looking at pictures of her and Thomas. The sound made her look away from her phone and at the door. 

Strange. Not a lot of people visited her. Even her friends knew her passcode and never used the doorbell when they visited. Lacey stood, wondering who it could be. She got an answer a few moments later. 

Two people stood at Lacey’s door, standing side by side. A man and a woman. The man had his left arm wrapped around the woman’s shoulders, and his other hand held a brown envelope. He was the first to speak. 

“I wanted to use the code, but Eliza thought it would be rude for me to just come in like that. She didn’t want to barge in incase you had someone over.” Thomas raised the brown envelope. “I saw you hadn’t picked it up yet, and thought to do you the favor.”

Lacey’s eyes were blank as she took in the presence of the two people outside her house. Thomas had on a blue coat that Lacey didn’t recognize—it made his eyes come out—while Eliza, in a black dress, looked every inch like the superstar she was. These two people suddenly showed up for a regular visit. 

“I…” 

Trying to form words was hard for Lacey. In the same breath, Thomas had just confirmed that he was divorcing her, while also insinuating that she was someone who had men over often. 

“Can we come in?” 

At Eliza’s soft-spoken request, Lacey fully turned her attention to Thomas’ co-star. The camera didn’t really do any justice as to her beauty, even Lacey could admit that. She had the looks of someone who was born to be a star. Lacey looked down at her own washed-out tee and jeans. There was no comparison. 

“Come in. This is still Thomas’ house anyway.”

Thomas took his hand off Eliza’s shoulders, and sidestepped past Lacey to enter the house. Before following, Eliza shot a bright smile at Thomas. After they were both in, Lacey closed the door. She found Thomas seated in the heart shaped chair with Eliza. 

“Eliza and I are a couple now.” If it wasn’t already clear by Thomas showing up to collect the divorce papers with her, then it was now. To Lacey’s dismay, there was an easygoing smile on her soon-to-be-ex’s face, like it was just a regular announcement. 

“A couple?” Lacey repeated. She was still standing, watching the two. “And how long has this been going on?”

“Oh, it’s not like that.” Eliza laughed. It was an airy-sounding thing that went well with her image. “We only officially started dating today, after Thomas sent the divorce papers. He wanted to be a bigger person by not cheating like you did.”

The bigger person. 

“You don’t have to explain it to her. I’ll deal with this.” Under Lacey’s gaze, Thomas took Eliza’s hand and began to caress it. When he looked at Lacey, there was a hard look in his gaze. “I don’t want this to drag, okay? Sign the papers unless you want me to tell the whole world about you getting rid of our child.”

Child? Rid? Tears were rolling down Lacey’s face by now. The quiet crying didn’t come with the usual warning. It was uncontrollable. Lacey’s shoulders shook slightly as she heard Thomas’ lies. How much did he hate her to be able to tell these lies like they were the truth? 

Even before the two of them got married, they’d had conversations about whether they wanted to have children. Thomas suggested that they waited until a year at least, and Lacey saw no problem with that. For that reason, she was on the pill and they always used protection during intercourse.

“Sign the papers.”

The brown envelope was slammed on the table. 

Silently, Lacey picked up a pen, opened the envelope, scanned the file, then signed the paper. And that was done. 

Thomas was grinning from ear to ear as he took the now-signed divorce papers. Then suddenly, under Lacey’s gaze, he turned his head towards Eliza and kissed her deeply. 

“I’ll cancel the lease within the next two months, so find a place before then.”

The whole ordeal took eight, maybe ten minutes tops. As soon as they arrived. They were gone, leaving Lacey feeling like it had all been a fever dream. Crumbling against the door, Lacey’s whole body wracked with tears. 

Her phone started to buzz. With tears in her eyes, Lacey blindly answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Lacey, this is Ada.” Her manager at the diner she worked at. “Don’t bother coming in to work tonight, alright? It looks like a lot of people found out where you worked. This place is crawling with all kinds of people wanting to catch a glimpse of you. I fear something bad might happen, so just stay home. Okay?”

With a lot of effort, she managed to drag herself to the middle of the living room, where she cried herself to sleep.