He Forgot My Birthday for Her Anniversary Again Chapter 09
He’s not clueless.Â
He knows exactly how to charm Skyler. HeÂ
reads her moods. He spoils her rotten.Â
He just never bothered to do the same for me.Â
I ignored Skyler.Â
At three p.m., another courier showed up withÂ
a mountain of desserts.Â
“Ms. Morrison? These are from Mr.Â
Harrington.”Â
Then he pulled out a note and read it out loud,Â
loud and dramatic:Â
[Paige, I was wrong. I’m sorry. I won’t everÂ
make you mad again. Please forgive me.]Â
I could feel my patience snap. The courierÂ
left. My manager, Mike Slater, came over.Â
“Paige, take a few days off, okay? If youÂ
and your guy keep this up, nobody else is going toÂ
get any work done.”Â
I bit my lip. Submitted a week of PTO.Â
I had no one else in Ashwood except Brady.Â
So I booked the next flight back to Middleton.Â
My parents were overjoyed. They showed upÂ
at the airport early.Â
“You’ve lost weight,” my dad said, looking meÂ
over. “I made your favorite–fried chicken. Still hot.Â
Dig in when you get inside.”Â
I smiled.Â
Mom must’ve told him about the breakup.Â
Dad didn’t ask about Brady at all. Neither didÂ
she. They both steered clear of that topic.Â
But a coworker texted me: on my first day off,Â
Brady came to the office looking for me. Left whenÂ
he heard I was on vacation.Â
I didn’t care. I just enjoyed my time at home.Â
My parents kept me busy so I wouldn’t mope. Errands. Day trips to local sights. They made meÂ
their personal photographer.Â
hi.”Â
Then one morning, Mom banged on my door.Â
“Evan’s back from his break! Get up, go sayÂ
Evan. I blinked the sleep away.Â
Evan Whitfield. The boy next door. We grewÂ
up together.Â
After high school, he went north for medÂ
school. We hardly saw each other after that. ButÂ
every time we did, he brought me local snacksÂ
from up north.Â
I jumped out of bed, threw on clothes, and ranÂ
to the door.Â
When I opened it, he was already there,Â
holding a big bag of treats.Â
“Evan!”Â
I grinned, eyes fixed on the bag.Â
He noticed and lifted it teasingly. “Your momÂ
said you were home. Picked out some stuff yourÂ
like.”Â
him.Â
My eyes lit up. I took the bag and thankedÂ
He looked at me for a long moment, lipsÂ
pressed together.Â
“You broke up? For real?”Â
My hand tightened on the bag. I cursed myÂ
mom silently for her big mouth.Â
“Yes. For real. Why do you care?”Â
He just smiled. Didn’t answer.Â
Instead, he said, “I got an offer from aÂ
hospital in your city. I’m starting next week.”Â
“Paige. I don’t know that city. Looks like I’mÂ
going to need a lot of help from you.”

