Chapter 3

Andrew's lips parted, but before he could say anything, his phone rang.

He glanced at the name on the screen, and his expression immediately softened. Then he turned and stepped out onto the balcony to take the call.

I didn't have to ask who it was. I already knew he wouldn't be coming back after that call.

So I kept packing. I packed through the night, and by the time dawn broke, several large suitcases were stacked on top of each other in the living room.

As I looked around the nearly empty apartment, something finally hit me. Almost everything that had made this place feel like home was something I had bought.

I used to love talking to Andrew about decorating our place. Whenever I mentioned something I wanted to get, he would always say yes. Then he would forget about it.

A few days later, when I brought it up again, he would just say, "Sorry, Joyce. I forgot."

After enough times, I stopped asking and simply bought whatever we needed myself.

Now, seeing how empty the apartment looked, I finally realized something. Andrew or no Andrew, I'd always been perfectly capable of handling everything on my own.

When I found the wedding dress design buried at the bottom of a box, though, I still felt a pang of regret. I'd spent years working on it, revising it again and again.

Back when Andrew and I only had eyes for each other, getting married had seemed like a given. Then Gwen's incident happened.

After that, Andrew stopped talking about marriage. Whenever I brought it up, I got the same answer.

"Gwen's not doing well right now. Just wait.

"Give it a little more time."

I kept setting the design aside. Eventually, it was forgotten and left to gather dust.

Just then, a message from Gwen popped up.

"Andrew's been feeling down, so I'm taking him on a seven-day trip to help him clear his head. If there's any souvenir you want, we can pick one up for you while we're there."

She wasn't even trying to hide the fact that she was rubbing it in.

I ignored her and texted the landlord instead. "I won't be renewing the lease. I'll be moving out soon."

Our lease was up the day after tomorrow. I wondered if Andrew would make it back before the landlord came to take the apartment back. If not, he might not even have time to pack his things.

Two days later, a message from Andrew came in, his anger practically jumping off the screen.

"Joyce, the lease is up! Why didn't you tell me? The landlord cleared out all my stuff and dumped it in the hallway!"

I replied calmly, "I did tell you. A long time ago, actually. You just never bothered to remember. There's a woman in the complex who collects junk, so if you don't get back soon, I can't promise your stuff will still be there."

After sending the message, I sat down at my desk and started figuring out what I needed to pack for Caldria in two days.

My phone buzzed again. This time, it was the guy who'd been our class president in high school, inviting everyone to a reunion the next evening.

Maybe because I knew I'd be leaving right after, I found myself saying yes.

But the moment I walked through the door, I regretted it.

I'd set aside a white dress for the occasion, even though I'd hardly worn dresses at all in all the years Andrew and I had been together. It all went back to something he'd once told me.

"You don't have the legs for dresses. Besides, what's the point? They look nice, but they just get in the way at work. Pants are way more practical."

And yet there was Gwen, standing in the middle of the crowd in the exact same white dress I was wearing.

The room immediately filled with whispers.

"Why would she wear the exact same dress as Gwen?"

"Andrew just said how good Gwen looks in white dresses. She obviously heard him and decided to copy her. Could she be any more obvious?"

Andrew spotted me almost immediately.

A second later, my phone buzzed. It was a message from him.

"Joyce, Gwen just posted that dress yesterday. You didn't have to wear the exact same one on purpose. I promise, once she's fully recovered, we can start over. You don't have to move out."