Chapter 3

She pulled out a chair for him and flipped open the menu.

"Want the salmon bowl? You liked it last time."

Steven leaned closer.

"Ruby, you're so good to me."

My spirit hung above them, watching her feed another man.

***

Later, back home.

"Looking at Ian's socials again?"

Steven stood in the bedroom doorway, fresh out of the shower.

Ruby immediately locked her phone.

"I was checking Teams."

She wasn't.

She'd been looking at my social feed.

My last post had gone up at four o'clock yesterday afternoon.

A photo of a black suit hanging on a rack.

Caption:

[Tomorrow.]

No comments.

No likes.

She opened her fitness app.

My name still sat on yesterday's leaderboard.

[9,034 steps.]

Today: Zero.

Then she scrolled through our chat history.

The last message on her phone from me read:

[My suit's pressed. Your iced Americano is on the table. Don't forget to drink it when you get back.]

She never replied.

Because by then, she'd already been on her way to Steven.

Steven wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"You're not actually worried, are you?"

Ruby said nothing.

"You still can't let him go, can you?"

His voice was soft.

Testing.

"How could I ever compete with Ian? He's kind. Capable. All I do is cause you problems."

He lowered his head.

The bandage on his wrist peeked out from under his sleeve.

Every so often, he touched it, like he was afraid people might forget it was there.

Ruby's eyes drifted to the bandage. "Don't be ridiculous. You're not a burden."

"But he really was in the ER..."

"Impossible."

Her answer came instantly.

"Even if he got thrown from a car, he'd be fine."

Halfway through the sentence, she stopped.

Steven caught it immediately.

"Ruby, what about the marriage license? Should we tell your parents first?"

"Yeah."

"What about all this?"

He pointed across the living room.

A suit hung inside a garment bag.

Our engagement photos sat framed on a shelf.

A wilted bouquet of red roses scattered dried petals across the floor.

Everything had been prepared by me.

The suit wasn't expensive.

But during the fitting, I'd stood in front of the mirror turning this way and that, worried she wouldn't like it.

We'd taken engagement photos last week. I'd shaved clean and actually combed my hair for once.

Ruby stood beside me, her lips pressed into a straight line.

I'd nudged her. "Come on. Smile."

"I am smiling."

The second we walked out of the studio, she threw her arms around me.

She said she'd held back because she didn't want someone posting pictures of her grinning like an idiot online.

On the ride home, she sat behind me on my bicycle.

The wind kept blowing my hair into my face.

She reached up and fixed it for me.

"Where do you think we'll live after we get married?"

"A two-bedroom apartment. We'll make it work."

"Not big enough. What about when we have kids?"

She stiffened for a second.

I could feel her heartbeat through my back.

"Then I'll take on more projects and get us a bigger place next year."

That was last fall.

Now she stood in front of those memories, her jaw tight.

"Throw it away."

Steven blinked.

"All of it?"

"All of it."

"The suit too?"

"I said all of it."

She yanked open the garment bag herself.

The fabric brushed her fingertips.

Her hand trembled.

The photos.

The roses.

The paperwork we'd gathered for the marriage license.

One by one, everything disappeared into the bag.

Then she stopped.

A cord peeked out from beneath a couch cushion.

She pulled it free.

A lucky pendant rested in her palm.

The year her startup collapsed, debt collectors came after her.

Three men cornered us in an alley and demanded twenty thousand dollars.

I stepped in front of her.

They shoved me to the ground.

Then kicked me over and over.

The pendant's cord snapped and rolled into a storm drain.

Ruby crouched beside that drain for half an hour before finally finding it.

My blood was still stained on the clasp.