I answered calmly.
“Don’t worry. There won’t be a next time.”
Then I ended the call.
For hours afterward, I thought about all the times I had covered restaurant bills.
Loaned money.
Changed my schedule.
Listened to family problems late at night.
Solved emergencies no one else wanted to deal with.
And how quickly all of that disappeared the moment I said no.
Then Jordan sent me a photograph.
My family was sitting on another beach.
Apparently, they had found a different place.
Everyone was smiling.
The caption said:
“Change of plans. Looks like we didn’t need you after all.”
I stared at it.
Oddly, I wasn’t angry.
I simply felt finished.
Leah walked into the room a few minutes later and noticed my face.
“What happened?”
Instead of explaining immediately, I took her hand.
“Come with me.”
We got into the car and drove north to a quiet stretch of coast.
No bags.
No plans.
Just us.
We sat in the sand while the sun moved lower over the water.
Eventually, I showed her everything.
The messages.
The photograph.
The caption.
Leah studied it.
“I’m not surprised.”
That hurt.
She looked at me.
“I wanted things to improve, Caleb. But they’ve treated me like this from the beginning.”
“I know.”
