Chapter 3

That was the joint account Rod and I had opened together.

We'd agreed to build it up, to set it aside as a trust fund for the child we'd have someday.

Just how much did he love her, to hand another woman our entire future?

I couldn't help the bitter laugh.

"Jade, you're using my money to compensate me?"

"What, stealing my husband wasn't enough? You have to come and rub it in my face too?"

Jade's eyes went red in an instant.

"I didn't, I really do want to make it up to you."

She choked up and couldn't go on.

Rod pulled her into his arms and soothed her under his breath.

"It's all right, don't bother explaining anything to her, she's not worth it."

"Your phantom limb kept you up half the night hurting. Get to bed early tonight, be good."

"Tomorrow when you wake up, I'll take you to that new sushi place."

They flaunted their affection right in front of me, shameless.

The master bedroom door shut, leaving me alone in the empty living room.

The contract on the table was stamped with the words "Smart Prosthetic Customization Agreement."

For three months, hunting down the best-fitting prosthetic, I'd been to nearly a hundred manufacturers.

All told, I'd spent five hundred thousand, every cent of the savings from eight years of work.

I couldn't bring myself to buy a three-hundred-dollar dress for myself.

Yet for her I'd picked the most expensive silicone sleeve, the most flexible joint.

All so she could walk normally someday and start over.

Looking back now, it was a colossal joke.

She never needed to stand up at all.

All she had to do was lie there playing the victim, and she could take my husband, my home.

I slept badly all night, one nightmare after another.

I dreamed of being small, of my parents divorcing and neither of them wanting me, of being dumped on the street.

I dreamed of my stepbrother cornering me in my room, of telling my mother and getting a hard slap for it.

"Barely more than a child and already no good, nothing but a little seductress."

Jade was my one salvation. She split her allowance and gave me half.

"Glenda, I've got you from now on."

Other kids called me a wild child with no parents.

She'd charge in and fight them, and come back with bruises on her face, still grinning at me.

"See, I won. Nobody's going to bully you anymore."

She was the one light of my entire teenage years.

So after her car accident, I wanted to give her everything I had too.

"Glenda, Glenda, wake up..."

I opened my eyes, throat dry and raw, my whole body burning.

Rod stood there holding a thermometer, frowning.

"A hundred and two point seven. You're running a fever and can't take yourself to the hospital?"

"Is putting on this pitiful act to compete with Jadie for attention actually fun for you?"

"If Jadie weren't so kindhearted, worrying about you and insisting I come check on you, you'd just lie here and let it drag on?"

So even being cared for while sick was Jade's charity.

Looking at that face, still handsome as ever, I couldn't understand it. The same man, and yet unrecognizable.

Our third year together, our business failed and we huddled under a bridge in the dead of winter.

I was running a high fever and we had no money for a cab.

Rod carried me on his back, walked five miles through the snow, his feet covered in blisters.

"Glennie, once I have money, I'll never let you suffer again."

That pneumonia nearly killed me.

It was Jade who quietly covered the medical bills.

Eyes red, she jabbed a finger in Rod's face and cursed him out.

"Rod, if you can't give Glennie a happy life, then I'll take her away."

Back then, we held on to each other's hands, sure we could walk through life together.

How did it come to just me, somewhere along the way.

My phone rang. Jade had sent a pregnancy confirmation report.

Rod shot to his feet, so worked up he could barely string words together.

"Jadie's pregnant. I'm going to be a father."

He turned to go, then stopped at the door and looked back with a warning.

"Don't you dare go make trouble for Jade over this."

"She can't take the stress. If anything happens to that baby, I won't let you off."

Counting the days, she must have gotten pregnant on my wedding anniversary.

My head throbbed like it was splitting apart, even breathing hurt.

Three people was too crowded for one love. I'd just step out.