Chapter 3

Jesse and my sister came home very late.

The living room light was still on, and he seemed a little surprised by it.

My sister had been spoiled rotten by our parents, and she'd never treated me, her older sister, as anyone worth minding.

She saw me and barely reacted. She just turned and went back to her room.

Before she shut the door, she poked her head back out and said to Jesse,

"Big brother, good night."

"Tomorrow's the weekend. Will you take me to a movie? Please?"

Jesse looked at me and hesitated.

"Go to sleep. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

My sister clearly didn't like that answer. She let out a huff and slammed the door.

"Can we talk?"

Jesse walked ahead of me, into the guest room.

Ever since my sister moved in, all he ever left me was his back.

Yet back when Jesse and I were dating, I told him everything about how unfairly my family treated me.

He went bungee jumping with me, drove me around late at night, did all the things I'd never done before.

Even with my dull, quiet nature, he made me feel like I'd found myself again.

Turns out promises only count in the moment they're made.

"Yvonne, you made everyone very uncomfortable today."

Jesse spoke first, laying the blame on me.

I still remembered how it used to be. Any wish I mentioned in passing, Jesse would quietly make it happen by the next day.

I met his angry stare and spoke slowly.

"Jesse, where's my bread?"

"Didn't you say you'd buy it for me today?"

His hands were empty. He froze for a second.

"I'm talking to you about something serious."

I nodded.

"So am I."

He pulled me down to sit and started coaxing me again, patiently.

"Yvonne, have you been in a bad mood lately?"

"If you're unhappy, how about I take you shopping tomorrow?"

"After you left today, Mom and Dad were all pretty upset. It was your sister who put in a few good words for you. That's the only reason it blew over."

I gave a cold laugh.

Mom and Dad? Whose Mom and Dad?

My mother-in-law and father-in-law were Jesse's parents.

The other pair were Violet's parents.

They only ever took Violet's side. All I had to do was be an obedient puppet.

"Jesse, then tell me. What good words did Violet put in for me?"

He stammered and couldn't get a word out for the longest time.

After I graduated, my mother said she wanted to see me married and living a happy life.

So Jesse and I did the natural thing and got our marriage license.

The more you lack something, the more you want to prove it.

I wanted my mother to look at me one more time, so I kept doing whatever she arranged.

As long as I satisfied her, she'd give me a gentle smile.

And then she'd say, "Yvonne's such a good girl."

For those words alone, I would have torn out my own heart.

But I only found out later that it was Violet who wanted me out of that house.

She wanted to turn my room into a studio, so she got my mother to talk me into marrying, just to get me gone faster.

The moment I learned that, I took every last one of my drawings out of my room.

My work. I wasn't going to let anyone soil it.

I took out the papers I'd prepared and pushed them across to Jesse.

"Let's get a divorce."

Jesse seemed to lose his footing and took a few steps back.

His brow drew together slowly, both eyebrows pulling toward the center, a thin layer of confusion rising in his eyes.

He gave a cold laugh and asked me.

"You want a divorce over one lousy piece of bread?"

I said flatly,

"There's the keychain too."

His expression turned a little panicked.

"You know?"

Violet had been dangling her bead-craft keychain right under my nose. It would've been hard not to see it.

"Violet has a test coming up. She's a little nervous."

"I only took her out to help her relax."

I'd chosen Jesse in the first place because of how he favored me.

But now he could take the love that was mine and hand a share of it to Violet.

That was proof enough there was no point staying with him.

I gave an "Oh," stood up, and walked to the door.

"Remember to sign."