The Carousel Lies Chapter 06
Jasmine’s hands started shaking as she called Cody on the way home.
“The number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable.”
Maybe he was still too angry to pick up, Jasmine told herself, over and over. She’d go home and apologize properly. Cody had always had such an even temper, always so patient with her, right up to the edge of indulging her every whim.
Was that exactly why she’d felt entitled to keep hurting him, again and again?
No. She shuddered.
But no matter how much she tried to deny it, she knew the truth. She’d been hurting Cody this whole time. Not with violence, not even with words, but through her actions, her attitude, slowly stewing him, slowly burning
him down.
By the time she’d fully faced what she’d done over the past several years, the back of her shirt was soaked through with sweat. She’d always thought of herself as refined, cultured. And yet, her character had been this ugly the
whole time.
Jasmine stood outside the front door, unable to make herself push it open. She didn’t know how to face Cody and Charlie. Didn’t know how to explain years of treating them so terribly.
By the time the toy in her hand was nearly crushed from how tightly she was gripping it, she finally worked up the nerve to go inside.
The next second, she froze. The house wasn’t the way she’d pictured it, with the two of them, big and small, waiting for her. It was pitch dark and suffocatingly quiet.
Her face went rigid. She flipped on the lights and rushed from room to room, but the apartment was barely nine hundred square feet. There was only so much space to search.
She couldn’t believe it. Cody had actually left.
Her spine, always so straight, went slack all at once. She stared blankly at the divorce papers on the table.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed. She answered on instinct, her heart racing, already opening her mouth to speak.
But a low, familiar voice came from the other end.
“Jasmine, thank you for the gift you got Luke. To thank you he wanted to invite you over for dinner tomorrow. Would that work?”
The smile froze on her face.
“No,” she said, her voice flat. She didn’t even bother pretending anymore.
Josh sensed immediately that something was off. He went quiet for a moment before his voice turned soft with
hurt
“Jasmine, did I put you in an awkward position?”
Listening to the guilty rasp in his voice, she felt nothing bu irritation, none of the tenderness she used to feel.
These past few days, she’d been spending time with Josh and his son, but her mind kept wandering When she’d bought Josh a necklace, she’d been thinking of the bare skin at Cody’s throat When she’d bought Luke a designer watch, she’d been thinking of the longing look on Charlie‘ face outside a store window
But she hadn’t dared send either gift. She’d kept up the act for so long that she was steadily losing the courage to
come clean.
What exactly was she so afraid of? It struck her like a bolt of lightning, and a chill ran through her entire body.
She was afraid of losing Cody and Charlie.
She realized then that she’d stopped loving Josh a long time ago. What she actually loved was the unfulfilled longing of her own youth, a kind of hunger, a way of making up for who she used to be. She didn’t love Josh. What she truly cared about was the two people waiting for her at home, curled up together.
Once that finally clicked, she bolted out the door and rushed to Cody’s workplace.
Out of breath, she found his boss and asked where he’d gone. The woman’s attitude was awful, and she shoved Jasmine away with a greasy hand.
“How would I know? Get out of my way. Just leave.”
Jasmine’s temper flared instantly, not on her own behalf, but at the thought of how much Cody must have put up with, working under someone like that.
Before she could react, an employee suddenly pulled her aside.
“Are you here to stand up for Cody?”
Jasmine’s expression darkened. “What happened to him? Did someone hit him?”
The employee’s face twisted with discomfort. After stammering for a moment, she finally spoke.
“The boss has always had her eye on him. A few days ago, she actually… grabbed him. Cody flipped the table and walked out without even waiting for his paycheck.”
