Nia sat beside her brother.
“What are you going to do?”
Darius looked down at his ringless hand.
Men did not usually wear engagement rings, but Simone had bought him a watch after the proposal.
It was on his wrist.
He removed it.
Placed it on the table.
“I don’t know.”
The next morning, Darius woke on Nia’s couch after sleeping less than two hours.
His phone contained fourteen missed calls from Simone.
Thirty-one messages.
He read none of them.
At ten, a different number called.
Darius ignored it.
The same number called again.
Then a text arrived.
This is Devon. I think we need to talk.
Darius stared at the screen.
His first reaction was fury.
His second was confusion.
How did Devon have his number?
Another message arrived.
Simone told me what happened. I’m not trying to disrespect you. There are things I didn’t know.
Darius stood.
Nia was making coffee.
“What?”
He showed her.
Her eyes widened.
“Absolutely not.”
“What?”
“Do not go fight that man.”
“I’m not going to fight him.”
“Your face looks fighty.”
“Fighty is not a word.”
“It is today.”
Darius looked at the text.
He replied:
Call me.
Nia stared.
“Seriously?”
“I want to hear what he says.”
The phone rang less than thirty seconds later.
Darius answered.
“Hello.”
A man’s voice responded.
“Darius?”
“Yes.”
“This is Devon Brooks.”
Silence.
Neither man knew how to begin.
Devon finally said, “I’m sorry.”
Darius laughed once.
“You don’t know me.”
“I know.”
“Then let’s skip that part.”
“Okay.”
Darius walked toward the balcony.
Nia remained nearby.
“What did she tell you?”
Devon exhaled.
“A lot of things that apparently weren’t true.”
Darius’s stomach tightened.
“Start at the beginning.”
Devon was thirty-three.
He worked for a software company whose marketing contract Simone had consulted on.
They met at a client launch almost a year earlier.
Nothing happened for several months.
Then they began messaging.
Simone told Devon she was engaged.
Devon claimed he initially refused to cross that line.
Darius interrupted.
“But eventually you did.”
“Yes.”
“So don’t clean yourself up too much.”
“I’m not.”
Devon continued.
Around January, Simone told him her relationship with Darius was failing.
By February, she said the engagement was essentially over.
“She told me you two were still living together because of money and because she didn’t have another place yet.”
Darius looked toward the street below.
“I own the house.”
“I know that now.”
“What else?”
“She said you knew she was emotionally checked out.”
Darius laughed bitterly.
“I was ordering wedding invitations.”
Devon became silent.
Darius continued.
“She ever mention those?”
“No.”
“The venue?”
“She said the wedding had been postponed indefinitely.”
Darius closed his eyes.
“What did she say about the ring?”
“She stopped wearing it when she was with me.”
Darius’s jaw tightened.
Of course.
Devon continued.
“I knew she was still technically with you.”
“Technically?”
“I’m not asking you to excuse me.”
“Good.”