Chapter 3

When I got home, I booked my flight and packed everything I truly needed.

Then I took down all thirty-six clocks Miles had installed throughout the apartment to announce the time.

I threw those away too, along with the clothes and jewelry he required me to wear.

All those things I had put on to satisfy his definition of a perfect girlfriend felt like restraints I would never need again.

I zipped my suitcase and let out a long breath.

I was about to call Miles and end the relationship when my phone rang.

"Is this Mr. Corbett? Building 3, Unit 501 at Cedar Ridge Residences. Your hangover-food delivery is here, but security won't let us upstairs. Could you come down for it?"

My stomach tightened as doubt rose inside me.

That was the condo Miles and I had bought seven years earlier as our future marital home.

But because of his obsession with perfection, he refused to let either of us live there until the wedding succeeded.

So for seven years we had remained in a rented apartment and promised not to cross that boundary.

When I drove there, the condo door had not fully closed.

Through the gap, I heard Audrey complain drunkenly, "This is all your fault for deducting points from my best friend. You made Celia so mad she left before we even got a photo together."

There was a flurry of kicking and movement, and Miles laughed. "You little drunk."

"Fine, fine. It's my fault. I won't deduct points for her forgetting the photo schedule."

He caught Audrey's kicking foot and began rubbing it carefully.

There was more tenderness in his face than I had seen in seven years.

So he did know how to take care of someone.

When I once got drunk and leaned against him, he had thrown me out of the rental apartment.

He told me not to act drunk and ordered me to sober up outside before coming back in.

It had been ten degrees below freezing, and the experience frightened me so badly that I never wanted to get drunk again.

Now he had broken his own boundary and brought a drunken Audrey into the home that was supposed to belong to us after marriage.

He let her make a mess of the place.

I pushed the door open, and Miles looked toward me.

Panic flashed through his eyes, then turned to irritation when he saw the delivery bag in my hand.

"Perfect Girlfriend Rule Three: respect privacy boundaries before marriage.

"Looking at someone else's delivery without permission costs ten points."

No explanation. Only blame.

The whole thing suddenly felt absurd, and exhaustion settled over me.

When two people are never on the same wavelength, every conversation eventually turns into noise.

"Miles, we're breaking..."

Before I could finish, Audrey stumbled toward me.

"Don't deduct Celia's points!"

She bumped past Miles and clung tightly to my hand.

"Bestie, you didn't take a picture with me today. Are you mad at me?

"I didn't mean to steal your wedding. I'll give the ring back. Let's make up."

She pulled off the wedding ring but could not line it up with my finger.

The smell of alcohol washed over me, and I tried impatiently to free my hand.

A sharp pain suddenly pierced my fingertip.

Miles shoved me away and grabbed Audrey's finger.

He looked at me as though I had done something monstrous.

"Celia Monroe, what is wrong with you?"

My own cry of pain caught in my throat.

He kicked the bloodstained ring away, settled Audrey on the couch, and opened the first-aid kit.

The blood had come from my hand and could have been wiped away easily.

Still, he wrapped Audrey's finger in layer after layer of gauze.

Then, as though remembering something urgent, he lifted Audrey into his arms and rushed for the door.

"I'm taking Audrey to urgent care to have the wound assessed. Go back to the rental apartment and think about what you did.

"Until she forgives you, the wedding is postponed indefinitely."

He hurried away before I could finish the quiet sentence behind him.

"Miles, I'm the one who's hurt."