Chapter 5

"I didn't forget about taking your friends to dinner tomorrow. I've already reserved a private room. You can all head straight there."

A second message followed with the restaurant address. One look at the place told me he'd spared no expense this time.

The next evening, my friends gathered around the table, looking almost suspicious of the private dining room.

"Seriously? Yale Carter, the cheapest man alive, is actually treating us here? This place has to run at least a hundred bucks a person."

I smiled. "Actually, dinner's on me. I have some good news."

That got everyone's attention.

"Corporate offered me a transfer. I'm taking over as general manager of the Aster City office."

The table erupted.

"Congratulations! Wait, doesn't that put you at the same level as Yale?"

"Pretty much."

"That's huge. But Aster City? You two are going to be long-distance. Have you told him yet?"

I shook my head. Before I could explain, my phone rang.

Yale Carter.

I answered, but the voice on the other end wasn't his.

It was Yvonne.

"Don't bother waiting. He's not coming.

Then she continued, almost conversationally. "Zoe, you've been with him all these years, but do you even know why he's so obsessed with saving money?

"When he was little, his parents had a fight. His mother took him away just to get back at his father, and he ended up getting lost. He was on his own for six months before his family found him. He spent those months terrified of having nothing, and after that, he couldn't stand spending money. He had to save everything.

"He never told you any of that, did he? Seven years together, and you don't even know something that important about him. That's pretty pathetic."

I'd asked Yale more times than I could count why he was so extreme about money. Every time, he'd brushed me off or changed the subject.

So it wasn't that he couldn't tell me.

I simply wasn't someone he thought deserved to know.

I didn't respond.

Yvonne gave a little laugh. "I bet you're wondering why I know so much.

"The truth is, Yale and I were never just a senior and junior from college. We would've been together back then if his family hadn't objected because my family didn't have their kind of money.

"He's only with you because you're convenient and don't cost him much. You're my replacement, Zoe. That's all you've ever been."

With that, she hung up.

No one around the table spoke. The smiles from a few minutes ago were gone, replaced by anger.

"He did all this to you, and we're just supposed to sit here? No. We need to go find him and make him explain himself."

I shook my head.

"I'll give him another half hour. If he isn't here by then, I'm done waiting. I'll go to Aster City and take the job."

My friends clearly wanted to argue, but in the end, none of them could find anything to say. They simply stayed with me.

Ten minutes passed.

A message from Yale appeared.

[Something urgent came up at work. I'm going to be late.]

At twenty minutes:

[I'm getting ready to leave now.]

At thirty:

[I'm almost there. If you're hungry, go ahead and order without me.]

His half hour was up.

I stood and took hold of the suitcase I'd already packed, then called a cab.

"Dinner's on me tonight. Consider it a celebration of my promotion. I'm afraid I'll have to miss part of my own party, though." I smiled at them. "Next time, come visit me in Aster City. We'll go out and drink until we can't anymore."

Not one of them tried to stop me. Instead, they practically pushed me toward the door, as if they were afraid I'd change my mind if I stayed another minute.

But I was clear I wouldn't.

Seven years together ended right there.

An hour later, I reached the airport. I was about to board when another message from Yale appeared on my screen.

[I'm here!]

This time, I didn't even open the message. I blocked him, put my phone away, and boarded my flight toward a wide-open future.