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I couldn’t have been

He toldfor him to move her home, and he blamed me He told me to back off, to let her live the life she needed to live At the ti to leave the city, but I always talked her out of it And I always proot back someday Not to mention, we only spoke a few times a week

“I want you to stop returning her calls,” he told me

“I’ll back off, but I’ to disappear on her,” I said, ing a knife to a gunfight

“Fine You’ll do it gradually Over the next couple of weeks Cut your conversations shorter each time Tell her how busy you are And then one day you’ll just … stop calling her back,” Oliver instructed “She’ll be hurt of course There’s no way around that But she’ll reprioritize and she’ll focus on herself and her education She’ll be fine”

“With all due respect, sir,” I told hi to back off, I’ to just abandon her She’d never forgive me”

I’ll never forget the flash in Oliver’s eyes in that moment—it’s as if it was the whole point He wanted me to forsake her in such a way that her love would turn to hate

I refused, storoff in a cloud of burnt rubber Later that night, I called Blaire when I knew she’d be out of class, but h Either her line had been temporarily disconnected or he’d contacted their carrier and had my number blocked The bastard was already several steps ahead of me He must’ve handled that before I’d even set foot in the restaurant that day

The following , my father passed away—and in the week that folloere caught in a dust stor the state of financial ruin he’d left us in

I still couldn’t reach Blaire—getting a pre-recorded e every time I’d call

Didn’t have her email address since we’d always texted and called

Her school directory was private

Nothing but a string of dead ends

It wasn’t but a day after we buried my father when Oliver showed up at our door with an offer we couldn’t refuse Given that he and my mother were “old friends,” he proposed to buy our operation and let Mama lease it back at a fair price While Mama thanked him with tears in her eyes, he pulled me aside on his way out the door and toldwe had if I so ain