“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.
She pats Lance’s shoulder, silently telling him it’s okay to let me in. He nods, but annoyance never leaves his expression as he marches into the bedroom across the apartment.
“Tell you what?” Trix asks as she closes the door behind me.
“Melanie,” I say. “Why didn’t you tell me she was leaving?”
Trix adjusts her robe, tying it off a little tighter. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says.
“You didn’t know?”
“I’m more than a little lost here, babe.” She lowers into a chair at the kitchen table. “Sit down. Start from the beginning. Where is Melanie going?”
Guilt clenches my gut as I glance around. Shirtless Lance. Trix in a silky robe. Obviously, I interrupted something here, and it wasn’t even justified if Trix really was as in the dark about Melanie’s plans as I was.
I slowly sit down in the chair across from hers. “New York,” I say. “Melanie is moving to New York.”
Trix furrows her brow. “She is?”
“She told me herself last night.”
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I say. “We have to stop her.”
“Well...” She breathes a laugh. “If she wants to leave, she’s going to leave. You of all people know that.”
I scoff. “Cute.”
“But true. What exactly did she tell you? And why?” She squints. “You aren’t fucking again, right?”
“No,” I lie.
“Because we had an intervention with her about that already.”
“Yeah, she told me about that, too, which, by the way…” I glare at her. “Rude.”
“It was Nora’s dumb idea,” she says. “What was I supposed to do? Tell her it’s fine, that you’ve been secretly sending her roses for months, and that we should just let it happen?”
“You should have minded your own business, yes.”
“Bitch, have you even met me?”
I roll my eyes. “She said that she had nothing keeping her here,” I say, exhaling hard. “That you had Lance, Nora had Clive, and she was just a fifth wheel now.”
Trix blinks. “She said that?”
“And I...” I bite down. “She said that she can’t go anywhere in this city without being reminded of me. Like it was a bad thing.”
“Well…” She bites her lip, hesitating.
“Well, what?”
“She kinda has a point, doesn’t she?”
“No,” I say. “She doesn’t.”
“Rob, come on. You went to her parents’ Christmas party.”
I scoff. “So?”
“And my family’s auction.”
“You invited me to that.”
“She can’t even go to brunch without you popping in and annoying her.”
“Roger gets me free bear claws,” I say, shrugging.
“You’re always there,” she says, her smile fading. “Put yourself in her shoes for a second. With the way things ended between you guys, would you want to constantly turn around and see you smirking, too?”
“I...” I look down at the table, unable to face the truth. “I didn’t think she hated me that much.”
“She doesn’t hate you, Rob.”
“She clearly doesn’t love me, either.”
“I think some relationships are more complicated than that.”
“Yeah, well, they shouldn’t be.” I lean back. “If you love someone, you stay. You don’t abandon them the moment things get hard. You make sacrifices.”
“You get clean and sober?” she asks.
“Yes!”
“And how many times did Melanie have to beg you to do that before you actually did it?”
My stomach twists. “That’s not the same.”
“Isn’t it?” Trix tilts her head. “Love isn’t just a feeling. It’s words. It’s actions. And I hate to put it like this, Robbie, but you didn’t love her, either.”
Fuck.
“I do now,” I say.
“Now might be too late.” She sighs. “Look, I’m shocked about this, too. I don’t want Melanie to leave, but if she feels like she needs a fresh start to be happy then that’s her choice.”
“And I’m just supposed to respect that?” I ask. “Let her move on after everything we’ve been through?”
“If you really love her, yes.”
I sit back, far too pissed to reply further.
The bedroom door opens and Lance walks out, this time fully dressed in a suit and tie.
“Back to work?” Trix asks him.
“Yeah,” he answers. “I’ll be home for dinner.”
She looks up at him and smiles. “See you then.”
He tilts forward and kisses her. “Love you,” he says.
“Love you, too.”
He nods at me. “Good to see you, Robbie.”
“You, too,” I say, feeling guilty. “Hey, you’re pretty taut for a lawyer, my friend. You work out?”
“I run about thirty miles a week,” he says.
“Nice. Keep it up.”
He chuckles awkwardly before grabbing the briefcase by the door. “Well, bye.”
“Bye, hon,” Trix says, eying me with amusement.
He closes the door, and I cringe.
“Sorry I interrupted your nooner,” I say.
She waves. “It’s all right. I think we’ll make it through.”
I glance around her apartment again. “Okay, why are you still here?” I ask.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you two are having a baby.”
She nods. “Yeah.”
“And you’re engaged.”
“Right.”
“So...” I turn up my hands, “why do you still have this apartment?” I ask. “Shouldn’t you be moving into his house?”
Trix sneers. “Do I have to?”
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“I like my space!” she says. “Also, Lance and I are still relatively new and very affectionate.”
“And that makes living together a problem... because?”
“You try hooking up with your boyfriend in a house where his teenage daughter could literally walk in at any moment,” she says. “Keeping the apartment is necessary. Trust me.”
I scoff. “What is it with you women?”
Her jaw drops. “What do you mean you women?”
“It’s your way or no way, isn’t it?”
“Generally, yeah.”
“So, compromise just isn’t a thing anymore?” I ask.
“Um...” She squints. “Lance and I want frequent sex. Haley’s a lovable pain in the ass. Keeping the apartment is the compromise.”
“And it doesn’t even matter how hard he’s worked. You’re content to throw it all away and leave because that’s what you want. His feelings don’t matter, so why even have the discussion at all? You’re just going to do whatever the hell you want, anyway.”
“Ah.” She nods. “We’re not talking about me and Lance anymore, are we?”
“No,” I say, rubbing my eyes. “You know, next time, I think I’ll just go to Nora for the relationship advice.”
She laughs. “She’d
