Chapter 1
“I’m done playing around. Let’s get married.”
The call came from my
ny ex–fiancé, Adam.
I looked down at my daughter’s peaceful, sleeping face, then pulled up the two–year–old digital wedding invitation and the birth announcement I’d posted on social media. I screenshotted both and sent them to him.
My phone rang again almost immediately. It was Adam, and he let out a derisive scoff. “When did you learn to pull these kinds of stunts? I already said I’d marry you. Stop playing these ridiculous games, understand?”
What was there not to understand?
He was
was the one who didn’t get it.
“Adam, I’m not joking. I got married six months after we broke up.”
1
–
A clatter of frantic sounds came through the phone, followed by the dial tone.
The memories flooded back, a relentless tide.
Adam and I had grown up together, our families a perfect match. Our engagement had been a natural, inevitable step. I’d believed we would get married, have children, and grow old together.
That is, until the student intern showed up in his life.
Her name was Chloe. I’d gone to find him at his graduate lab one day, bringing a warm cup of homemade
soy milk for everyone. When I offered one to Chloe, she didn’t take it. Her eyes, perfectly outlined with a sharp cat–eye, glanced at the cup in my hand. “T- hanks, but I don’t drink stuff like that. I’m a coffee person.”
I flushed, a little embarrassed. I wanted to explain that I’d made it myself from an organic, wellness recipe, that it was good for you.
But she just covered her mouth with a delicate hand and giggled. “Sorry, I’m just brutally honest, I didn’t mean your gesture was cheap or anything. I’ve heard from the other grad students that Adam’s girlfriend is very domestic. And it seems you’re very thrif ty, too.”
The atmosphere turned instantly awkward. The people holding their soy milk didn’t know whether to keep it or put it down. I didn’t want to make things difficult for everyone, so I just forced a smile. “Ill just leave them on the table. Help yourselves if you’d like.”
I took one out and handed it to Adam.
Just as he reached for it, a slender figure pounced, linking her arm intimately through his. “Sorry, ma’am, but Adam’s having coffee with me.”
I stared at Adam in disbelief.
But his face was a mask of annoyance. He yanked his arm free from her grasp. “Enough”
“I’m drinking the soy milk my fiancée brought me,” he said, his voice cold. “If you want coffee, go drink it alone.”
Seeing his frosty expression, Chloe pouted, “I was just joking. Why are you so angry?”
Adam ignored her.
On the way home, the city sky was a familiar, hazy gray. Chloe’s strange hostility lingered in my mind. “Adam,” I finally asked, “that new girl in your lab… does she have a crush on you?”
Chapter 1
01-25 T
Adam laughed, ruffling my hair. “Don’t overthink it. She’s just a spoiled brat with no manners. You’re the only one for me. There’s only one future Mrs. Chapman, and it’s you. Okay?”
His words melted my anxiety, and a sweet smile spread across my face. I believed we would walk this path together for the rest of our lives.
