May We Each Find Peace, Miles Apart

I tore through every post on my cousin's account like I couldn't stop myself.

The earliest post dated back five years. It was a set of wedding photos, captioned: [The man I've loved for so long finally got to see me in the dress he picked out.]

[We spent the whole day shooting, and my boy was patient with me the entire time.]

My eyes burned.

Because the day before those photos were taken, Sebastian Moore and I had taken our own wedding pictures.

In hers, Sebastian smiled. He played along when she wanted to pose a certain way, and when she kissed him, the tips of his ears quietly turned red.

With me, he hadn't smiled once.

Photo by photo, post by post, I could almost piece together the last five years of their lives.

They had traveled all over the world for these shoots, leaving their mark everywhere from the farthest reaches of the east to the southernmost corners of the globe. My cousin Xena Zane's hair had grown from a short cut to her waist, and her wedding dresses had changed from simple satin gowns to elaborate embroidered ones.

Sebastian was a workaholic. He had still been handling business right before walking onto the stage at our wedding.

Yet somehow, every two weeks, he had found the time to go away with her for another photo shoot.

Five years of memories spun through my mind in a blur.

All those nights Sebastian had worked late. The sudden "business trips" on weekends. The anniversaries he'd brushed aside because "work was crazy."

Every excuse had a matching date on her account.

When my boss was making my life miserable at work, the two of them were wrapped in the same cashmere blanket beneath the northern lights in a country halfway across the world.

When I miscarried and lay alone in the hospital, enduring the pain by myself, they were kissing in front of a little shepherd's chapel overseas.

Sebastian had divided his time in two. Half for me, half for Xena.

Only the half I got was damaged goods.

Pain knifed through my chest so sharply I could barely breathe.

I opened my chat with Sebastian.

His last message had come that afternoon.

[Something came up. I have to leave town for work. Don't wait up tonight.]

Ever since we'd gotten married, Sebastian had attended business dinners constantly and often stayed out all night.

Every time, I tried to reach him, but he never answered my calls. Either he called me back the next day, or the assistant traveling with him did.

Like always, I called him.

And like always, he didn't pick up.

A little while later, my phone rang.

It was Wendy Tanner.

"Jenna, Sebastian had too much to drink, so he couldn't call you back. We're already at the hotel. Don't worry."

Wendy was my best friend and Sebastian's assistant. She was always the one keeping me updated on his schedule.

She had even joked before that as long as she was around, Sebastian would never get the chance to have an affair.

I stared at Xena's newest post.

The photo was a screenshot of a message Sebastian had sent her.

[No overtime tonight. I'll come home and stay with you.]

For the first time, I questioned Wendy.

"Really? You're actually away on business?"

There was a brief pause before she laughed.

"What, you don't even trust me now?"

I didn't ask more questions.

After I hung up, tears spilled down my face before I even realized I was crying.

Everyone had been lying to me.

Even the person I trusted most.

I went back to that first post and typed a comment beneath it.

[You stole my man, but you don't even dare post him on your main account. You have to hide him on an alt instead. Guess even you know it's shameful.]