Chapter 12: Change Comes Quietly

Back then, Tasha asked if I’d really break up with him if he wouldn’t delete her.

I hesitated. “I don’t know.”

But in those days, I stopped reaching out to Caleb. I even deleted all our old texts—scrolled through so many times the screen felt greasy.

I really seemed to be changing. Quietly, without warning—just different, all at once.

I was actually ready to break up with him.

What surprised me, though, was that on the third day of the silent treatment, a drunk Caleb showed up in the rain outside my dorm.

When I went downstairs, his jacket dripped onto my sneakers. The smell of wet pavement and whiskey clung to him. I almost laughed—he’d always hated the rain.

He leaned against me, head buried in my neck. He reeked of whiskey, which I remembered he never used to touch.

I tried to push him off, but the more I struggled, the tighter he held me.

“Caleb, you’re drunk. Let go…”

“Aubrey.” He cut me off, voice hoarse. “I deleted her.”

He actually deleted Erin. He actually deleted Erin for me.

But why did I feel nothing at all?

I wasn’t sure what was happening. It was like liking him had become a habit, and suddenly feeling nothing left me lost.

Either way, my breakup plan got washed away with that rainy night. We went back to how we were. His only rule: Never mention Erin again.

My rain-soaked clothes clung to my skin, the heater humming as we sat in silence. I wondered if this was forgiveness—or just fatigue.