Page 69 of Aperture
“And you think Theo had something to do with it?” Despite the sides of him I’ve seen, I can’t believe he’d actually hurt anyone.
“I do. Yes.”
“How could you let me date him if you think this of him? I thought you cared about me,” I say quietly.
“Look at me,” he says. “When I first noticed he had an interest in you, I was obsessed with getting information on him in any way possible. I would have never let him hurt you though.”
“I can’t believe this,” I tell him. My voice is so small. I don’t even have the energy to fight this anymore. Then something occurs to me.
“Did you meet me on purpose, outside the photography shop?”
His silence is all the answer I need.
“So, it was all a setup, Wyatt?” At this moment, all I want to do is forget about the last several weeks.
“I couldn’t say anything. If my captain found out I knew Theo, he would pull me off the case. If I told you, I would be jeopardizing it.”
“So, I was a means to an end?”
“No. You are a beautiful, intelligent, funny woman who I developed serious feelings for,” he says.
“Stop, Wyatt. Just stop. It’s all fake.”
“How I feel is not fake,” he says. “Somewhere along the way I quit caring about catching Theo, and my only goal became to protect you.”
“Have you broken into my house, Wyatt?”
“No. Jesus, Millie. No.”
“Have you ever lurked around outside my house?”
He pauses. “Yes. I have. I was outside checking on you the night you got Milo. I didn’t know you had a dog, and he heard me outside and went crazy.”
I laugh softly through the tears. “He really is the best boy,” I say sadly. “He’s the only boy I trust.”
I open my door and walk through it and turn to Wyatt who stands, sad and stunned on the other side.
“Goodnight, Millie,” he says quietly. I don’t give him a chance to say anything else. I shut the door in his face.
Chapter 32
I ignore two calls and several texts from Theo the next day.
Wyatt is smart enough to take the hint and leave me alone after last night. I’m so exhausted that I don’t even bother to get dressed.
I reschedule my photo shoots, giving the excuse that I’m sick, and it’s not a complete lie. I am sick over this whole, crazy, complicated situation. It wasn’t so long ago that my life was boring and uncomplicated. Now I’m living in some sort of telenovela. I don’t know what to think about any of this so I’ve decided to bury my head in the sand for the near future.
I stay in my pajamas, pick at real food but really only eat a pint of Ben and Jerry’s and snuggle with my dog.
Around 4 o’clock, I decide I need to at least take Milo for a little walk, so we make a quick trip around the block. At some point during the walk my sadness morphs into anger. I am so angry at Wyatt for using me and then thinking he can just say some beautiful words to erase everything he’s done. I’m angry with Theo for being a liar and a cheater. Even as angry as I am with him, I honestly don’t think he had anything to do with Sophia’s disappearance. But mostly, mostly, I’m angry with myself. I allowed myself to develop feelings for two men, neither of whom are who I thought they were.
Once we get home, I turn on a Spotify playlist. I’m clearing my head as I rock out to bands like Fallout Boy and Linkin Park. Then I hear the vibrant piano melody of Miss Vanessa Carlton making her way downtown and I get sad again, thinking of how Wyatt surprised me by singing it that night in his car. It was at that moment when I really began to understand the depth of my feelings for him, only to sleep with him and wake up alone.
I grab my phone and skip to the next song, which also starts with the striking sounds made by the vibrations of a sound board by piano strings. This one, however, is perfect. Within minutes, I am standing in my kitchen, wooden spoon in hand, mimicking a microphone, shouting the words that never sounded like a breakup song before, but now resonate through my confused soul like they were written just for this situation.
“My power flurries through the air into the ground
My souls is spiraling in frozen fractals all around
