During our fifth year together, my girlfriend, Erin Palmer, finally got the job she'd been dreaming of.At lunch, my coworker, Jared Monroe, nudged me and joked, "You know what they say—when people get a decent job, the first thing they do is dump their partner who is so-called ‘out of their league’. You'd better be careful."I laughed and punched him lightly in the arm. "Quit spouting nonsense. We're doing great!"That night at her celebration dinner, I showed up at the restaurant door with a bouquet in one hand and a carefully chosen gift bag in the other.Erin's best friend, Chloe Adams, smiled and asked her, "Erin, who's this?"Erin turned around, glanced at me, and said casually, "Oh, he's a classmate from university."I stopped dead in the doorway. My hand was half-raised in greeting. For a second, I didn't know whether to keep it up or pretend I'd never moved at all.I forced myself to walk over, set the flowers and the gift down on the table in front of her, and said, "C
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