Chapter 3

“Vanessa Henson! Have you lost your mind? You stuck it out with him all those years until he finally made it as Harborview's top lawyer, and now you want to break up?”

I let out a quiet sigh and told her everything, start to finish.

The moment I finished, I thought I'd get her concern, her comfort. Instead her words came, and my heart felt like a knife had dragged across it, tearing me open beyond recognition.

“You mean Penelope? Nessa, don't take this the wrong way, but every man slips up. It's not like he's marrying her. And Penny's actually a good person. Don't be so petty.”

Her words landed and I froze.

“Eva, you know her?”

At that, she opened up like a floodgate and couldn't stop, every sentence dropping onto my heart like a stone.

“Of course I know her. Penny and I met at an art show a while back. She's so sweet. I had cramps that day and she went out and bought me warm honey tea!”

“Oh, right, we all knew about the two of them, but nobody thought it was a big deal. Clifford told me himself he wasn't going to marry her. So posting that thing online, that was really small-minded of you!”

“Why aren't you saying anything? Are you mad again? See, this is exactly why I never told you any of it, because you're so petty……”

I bit down hard on my lip and swallowed the tears back down.

Evangeline and I had known each other ten years.

In high school her father wouldn't pay for her schooling, and I knelt in front of my mother and begged her to help. Later, when Eva couldn't afford to eat, I split my meals with her. When she started her business, I gave her every cent of my savings.

She always used to throw her arms around me and say, “Nessa, I owe you so much in this life. I'll always be good to you, I swear!”

And now she was one more person who'd lied to me, ready to throw away our ten years over a little kindness from a stranger.

“Eva, was I not good to you?”

My voice was very soft. No hysterics, no breaking down and screaming.

The other end of the line went suddenly silent, and the answer was obvious.

Rain pattered against the car window, and everything inside me went quiet.

“Let's be done.”

I hung up before she could answer.

The one who used to walk me home in the rain, this is where we part.

Losing love, losing friendship, none of it was worth grieving. At least I still had my work walking beside me.

Two years left before I go.

Back home, I pulled out my suitcase and packed up my things in a numb daze. Then I looked up at the wedding photo hanging on the wall, took a hammer from the storage room, and smashed it to pieces.

“Cliff, the photographer's getting impatient. When are you coming?”

“Something's come up, I have to go collect evidence. Wait a little longer.”

“Do you even want to marry me? We have to keep waiting just to take a wedding photo?”

“Vanessa Henson, you're always like this. I'm busy! Are you the only person in the whole world with time on your hands? Can't you understand the position I'm in?”

When we reshot that wedding photo, neither of us was smiling.

It was our first real fight in eight years, over his so-called work, waiting from dawn until dark, until we finally rushed through the shoot.

And on the way back, I torturing myself, opened Penelope's social media feed and saw it plainly: that same day, he'd been on the Ferris wheel with her, the two of them kissing.

The position you're in. It makes me sick.

The door was suddenly shoved open, and Clifford appeared, travel-worn and disheveled. He saw the wreckage all over the room and my suitcase, and stopped short.

“What kind of scene are you making?”

I didn't look at him. I calmly turned to leave the room, and he grabbed me hard, pulling me into his arms, his voice going gentle.

“You posted online to force me back, and all this is the same thing, isn't it? Nessa, you're still the same as before, throwing childish tantrums.”

“Let's sit down and talk this through. Stop making a scene.”