The Perfect Wife Score

A second before the Perfect Wife app finished uninstalling, Ryan Keller called.

"Julia, you did good this time. Now certain people don't have an excuse to keep me from marrying you."

Claire Snyder immediately scoffed in the background.

"Hey, don't act like I'm the one bullying her. You're the one who made that stupid scoring app. And after all these years, she barely scraped together enough points. Maybe you just have terrible taste in women."

Ryan's tone turned cold.

"I've told you before. Julia's better than you in every way. You were so sure she'd never pass, and now that she has, you're trying to back out?"

They started arguing almost immediately, dragging up old fights before long.

They dated in college, but their relationship was a mess. Ryan hated Claire's constant drama, while Claire complained that he was cold and completely unromantic.

At their worst, Claire even accused Ryan of cheating in school and stealing, then blasted the rumors all over the campus forums just to get his attention.

That relationship nearly destroyed him. For a while, Ryan was too afraid to fall in love again.

Then I came along. I stayed by his side and slowly helped him move on.

The day he finally told me how he felt, he showed up with a bouquet and looked at me like I was the only person in the world.

"Julia, being with you made me realize what love is actually supposed to feel like."

I said yes without a second thought.

Then Claire showed up drunk and ruined the whole thing.

Her eyes were red as she glared at Ryan. "You won't take me back, but you'll choose her?"

After that, she caused one scene after another. At one point, she even climbed onto a rooftop and threatened to jump.

"Prove she's better than me in every way, and I'll leave you alone."

In the end, Ryan installed the scoring app on my phone.

"She's threatening to kill herself. I can't just ignore that. She's immature, that's all. The points don't mean anything. I'm just going along with it until she gets over this. Bear with me for a little while."

That "little while" turned into three years.

The arguing on the other end finally died down, and Ryan's tired voice came through.

"Alright. Julia and I will just get the marriage license for now. How about this? Once she hits 70 points, I'll give her the wedding. Happy?"

I almost laughed, but there was nothing funny about it.

That was Ryan's favorite way to keep Claire happy.

If I wanted him to take me to a movie, I needed 40 points. If I wanted him to pick me up from work in the pouring rain, I needed 50.

Every time Claire threw a fit, Ryan gave in. And every time he did, our relationship took another hit.

After three years, everything between us came down to a score on a screen.

I didn't listen anymore. I hung up.

I looked down and wiped the rain from Mom's urn.

"Mom, things are a mess at home right now, so you'll have to stay here a little longer. Once I get everything sorted out, I'll come back and take you home with me."