I'm so late. This was supposed to be out no later than Wednesday. Sorry.


"Hello?" Robyn answered her phone Monday afternoon.

"Where are you?" Stephanie asked.

"I'm still in Orlando," Robbie replied.

"Why aren't you in Kansas City?" Steph questioned.

"I wasn't aware that I was booked on Raw…"

"You aren't but you were booked for an appearance at the children's hospital with Joe," she said.

"What?" Robyn fake gasped, pretending to be shocked. "It totally slipped my mind. Stephanie, I am so sorry!"

"Yeah, I'll give you a pass this time but I'm going to email you a copy of your appearance schedule for future reference. Absence will not be tolerated going forward," Stephanie firmly stated.

"Yes ma'am. It'll never happen again," she tried her best to sound apologetic.

She didn't forget about the appearance at all. The truth is, she wasn't ready to face Roman yet, not after what happened. Actually, the painful throbbing in her head let her know that she wasn't ready to face anything at the moment. The memory of him walking out on her was still fresh in her mind. Tomorrow, the inevitable was going to happen backstage at Smackdown and she knew she'd feel a combination of hurt and anger when she saw his face.

There was a bitter feeling inside of her knowing that she didn't get a chance to be with him now with the realization that she'd foolishly fallen in love. In order to get over this, she had to cut him out of her life cold turkey, which was painful. She blocked his number and blocked him on every social media platform. The few things he'd left behind at her condo were thrown into a box in the corner.


When she arrived at Smackdown the next day, she had a pair of dark sunglasses covering her face and walked directly to the locker room. She didn't stop to speak to anyone, she didn't stop by catering. All of that would bring a risk of running into him.

"Got a copy of tonight's card!" Charlotte announced and the others jumped up to see if they were booked while Robbie remained seated.

"What's wrong?" Ember asked.

"N-nothing," Robbie replied, trying to hold her composure.

"Are you sure?" Ember pressed.

"Yes," she focused her eyes forward, staring at the wall.

"You're lying," Sonya said. "Is this about that guy?"

Robbie couldn't hold it back any longer if she tried. A dam burst and flooded as tears poured down her cheeks. She nodded. "Yes."

The women gathered around her, offering consoling words.

She sniffed, knowing that she had to keep up with the narrative that she'd already set. "I thought the next time we talked that I'd be telling you we broke up and that I was moving onto bigger and better things but...he beat me to the punch."

"Is he on this roster because if so, we'll all march over to the men's locker room and get him," Liv said.

"No," Robbie shook her head.

"Who is he?" Peyton asked. "So we can make sure other girls avoid him in the future."

"I can't," she shook her head.

"If you don't want to talk about him, that's fine but just make sure you don't go back to him, whoever he is," Sonya replied.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Mickie went to answer it. She stuck her head out briefly before closing it. "It's Roman here for Robbie. He says it's something about children."

"Oh no," Mandy said, grabbing her makeup compact to dab it under Robbie's eyes. "You don't want to let Joe see you cry. He may mention it later in the lockerroom and it'll get back to the asshole ex. The worst thing you can do is let a man know you've cried over him."

Robbie slowly walked over to the door. She took a deep breath, putting on the best stoic expression she could muster before opening it. Roman was standing there with his head bowed and hands stuffed into his pockets. She cleared her throat. "Joe…"

"Hi, Robyn," a brief smile crossed his lips before fading. "Do you want to walk with me for a second?"

"Not really," she mumbled.

"Rob," he pleaded.

"Fine," she sighed, following him.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"I don't think that's your concern anymore…"

"You're right," he acknowledged with a nod. "Why didn't you show up yesterday?"

"It's like I told Stephanie, I forgot," she shrugged.

"We both know that's bullshit. If you pull up your calendar right now you have notifications set up for the next 3 months."

"Okay, I didn't show up. What about it?" she challenged.

"Robyn, I know you're angry but-"

"Who's angry? Married but separated couples get back together everyday," she interjected nonchalantly. This was always a possibility. She knew it from the beginning but somewhere along the line she got too lost in him to realize it.

"The point is, you were doing this for the children, not for me. These hospitals announce our visit in advance. Do you know how many questions I had to answer about your whereabouts? Because of your diagnosis, some of the kids actually thought you were sick again," he replied.

Holy guilt trip. Her expression softened and she relented. "Thanks, now I feel horrible."

"Well, you can have your redemption today with another group," he revealed, leading her into the catering area where a group of children were waiting for them.

Most of the children were either in remission or going through their last round of chemo so her job entailed encouraging them, telling her own personal story and chatting with their parents.

As always, when the meet and greet was over, they gathered together for a group picture. Roman's hand settled onto the small of her back, she stiffened and he promptly removed it.

"That went well," he remarked afterwards as she sat down with a cupcake.

"Uh huh," she nodded, not in a talkative mood.

"So now what?"

"I'm going to go back to the locker room and chill out until the show is over," her voice was muffled as she chewed.

"No, I mean, in general…" he clarified.

"What can I do besides move on with my life?"

He sighed. "I didn't want to give you up."

"...but you did," she grumbled.

"I had no other choice," he argued. "I was very much looking forward to starting a new life with you. I hope you know how much you meant to me. How much you still mean to me. Robyn, I-"

Robbie held her frosting stained hand up to silence him. "Unless this ends with you telling me that you've come to your senses and will push through with the divorce, I'm not interested. All you're doing is making me relive this pain all over again."

"I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I left you like that. I never wanted it to happen," he tried again. "But leaving would've hurt my little girl worse. It's not that I just wanted to abandon them in the first place. Galina and I both checked out on the marriage and there was no point in staying together. Now that we've talked, we have a new understanding and purpose to try to make things work."

"That's great," she replied, emotionless. "Let me give you a tip for the next time you two separate...and there will be a next time. Make sure the divorce papers are signed and finalized before you move on and break the next girl's heart. Okay? Anyway, good luck with that. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to find a man who isn't flaky with all the extra baggage."

He frowned. "I hope you aren't going to begin your search on the roster because none of them deserve you."

"A conflicted married man with 3 kids most certainly doesn't deserve me!" she snapped quietly, aware of the other wrestlers in the area. "Let's make a scene. I'm done. Oh, and happy belated birthday. You won't believe what I had planned for you on that night…and sadly, you never will."