Another pause.
“I’m living with Mom in her one‑bedroom condo. We’re cramped. Very cramped. We’re fighting all the time. She nags me every day, saying everything went wrong because of me. She says, ‘If I hadn’t gotten involved in that card thing, we’d be living normally right now.’”
Kiana laughed quietly.
“And what do you want me to say? That I pity you?”
“No, I just… I just wanted you to know. I’m having a hard time. A really hard time.”
“Darius, I’m sorry to hear that, of course, but that was your choice. You chose your mother and her greed. Now you have to live with the consequences.”
He sighed heavily.
“Will you ever forgive me?”
“Forgive?”
Kiana considered.
Maybe someday she would forgive when enough time had passed and the pain had completely dulled.
But she didn’t want to forgive him now.
“I don’t know, Darius. Possibly. But definitely not now. And even if I forgive you, we won’t get back together. That’s impossible.”
“I understand,” he said quietly, almost in a whisper.
“Forgive me for everything.”
She didn’t answer.
She just disconnected the call and put the phone on the table.
Darius didn’t call again.
February brought news from Shauna.
Her friend called one evening, excited and joyful.
“Kiki, listen. Remember my cousin Tammy? She’s a realtor. Well, she says they’ve listed your old street’s two‑bedroom condo. Darius and his mother are trying to sell her apartment and split up. Couldn’t live together, apparently.”
Kiana burst out laughing.
“Seriously?”
