Chapter 3

By the time I got home, it was already afternoon. When I opened the door, the cat was pacing by the entrance, meowing with hunger.

Pepper was a stray Kristen and Lance had adopted when they first started dating. After their breakup, Kristen looked after her, and once Kristen and I got together, the job of feeding the cat fell to me.

I sighed and took the cat food out of the storage closet. Pepper kept circling my feet. I opened the resealable bag and poured a little into my palm, and she immediately started wolfing it down.

It gave me a small sense of comfort, and I reached out to pet her. The next second, her sharp teeth sank into my finger.

Blood welled up instantly, and the pain made me suck in a sharp breath. Pepper vanished in a flash. Luckily, I had already taken her to get her rabies shot, so all I had to do was bandage it up at home.

Kristen, the woman I had loved for five years, did not like me. The cat I had taken care of for five years did not like me either. Was I just doomed to be this much of a failure?

I let out a bitter laugh and wrapped my finger tightly in gauze. Then I poured some food into Pepper's bowl, cleared the leftovers off the dining table, and went back to the guest room.

Before we moved in together, Kristen had made it clear that she did not believe in sleeping together before marriage, so we had always slept apart.

She took the master bedroom, and I took the guest room. Most of the time, we seemed more like two strangers who happened to live under the same roof.

I sat on the edge of the bed with nothing in particular on my mind, but when my eyes landed on the good luck charm on the nightstand, my breath caught in my throat.

It was the gift Kristen had given me for our first anniversary. She had sprained her ankle hiking up to a hilltop chapel to get it, and I had felt terrible about it for a long time. To make up for the guilt, I had bought her a designer handbag she had wanted for ages.

I picked up the charm and turned it over in my hands. Even though I had taken good care of it, four years had passed, and it had grown worn and faded. The stitching along the edges was even starting to come loose.

I pressed along the seam, and a slip of paper slid out and fell to the floor. I picked it up, and once I could make out the handwriting, the last of my defenses crumbled.

My chest tightened so painfully I could barely breathe. There was no way I could pretend it did not matter.

Ever since Kristen and I had gotten together, I had told myself every single day that if I treated her well enough, she would come around someday. I never expected her to give me much love in return, but that did not mean she could hurt me however she pleased.

For five years, that charm had been what kept me going in this relationship. I had once believed it was proof that Kristen loved me. Now, it just seemed ridiculous.

The charm had never been mine to begin with, because the note tucked inside had Lance's name and date of birth written on it.

For so long, I had lied to myself and refused to admit I had never truly had Kristen's heart. Now, I was tired. I no longer wanted to be a supporting character in someone else's love story.