All Chapters of She Never Had Time for Me: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

The moment I finished speaking, Theresa Reitz's brow furrowed."What now? I showed up, didn't I?"I pointed at the county clerk's office, its doors already shut for the day, and kept my voice flat."They've closed."She froze for a moment, then found her footing again, indignant as ever."I was only a few minutes late. I really didn't have time. Hector's stomach was acting up again. You know he has a chronic ulcer. When it flares up, he can't even get out of bed. "He's home alone with nobody to look after him. We can get our license anytime. One more delay won't matter. I'll be on time next round, I promise."I looked at her without a word. She was normally a woman of few words, but the second Hector Parsons came up, she never seemed to run out of them.Today, for the first time, I finally saw it with clarity.I stopped arguing and turned toward the car parked at the curb. She trailed after me, still listing off all the ways I was being unreasonable."Hector's parents left h

Chapter 2

Behind me, I heard Hector's voice, panicked."Theresa, is Zachary mad? This is all my fault."Then came Theresa's voice, certain of herself, like she had the whole situation handled."That's just how he gets. You'd think a grown man would stop acting like he's eighteen. Ignore him. He'll cool off on his own. Let's go. Don't you have content to shoot?"The car slowed deliberately as it passed me. I caught the flash of satisfaction in Hector's eyes, clear as day. Even the exhaust seemed to be mocking me.My eyes stung, but I bit down hard and refused to let the tears fall.In nine years together, Theresa had never once indulged my temper. She never came to smooth things over first. No matter how upset I'd been the day before, I was the one who always got over it, the one who put a smile back on for her.That was exactly why, the last time she stood me up and actually bothered to comfort me for once, I'd let myself believe her again.But I'd since learned she wasn't like that with

Chapter 3

An officer arrived quickly and took down the details. As luck would have it, the thief on the motorcycle crashed into a guardrail not far up the road. The police recovered my phone on the spot.I paid my bill like normal. The barista's face still curled with contempt."So you didn't dine and dash. Big deal. You're still some guy mooching off a woman who already belongs to someone else."I didn't have the energy left to argue. This was my nine years, reduced to something cheap and ridiculous in a stranger's eyes.By the time I finished giving my statement and made it home, it was already late. I opened the door, and Theresa shot up from the couch, then sat back down as if she hadn't meant to react at all."Done throwing your tantrum for the day?"Her tone was as condescending as ever."You're thirty years old. Can you stop being so unreasonable? It's no big deal we didn't get the license today. We'll just go again next time."I lowered my eyes. There wouldn't be a next time.An

Chapter 4

The next morning, I woke up feeling like my whole body had come apart at the joints. Everything ached.Neither Theresa nor Hector was home. I packed my suitcase quickly and realized there wasn't much of mine to pack in the first place. The photo on the coffee table was of her family and Hector; she'd never had time to take one with me. The stuffed animal on the couch was something Hector won for himself from a claw machine. Even the scent diffuser in the living room held vanilla, Hector's favorite. Somehow, over all these years, I'd become the outsider in my own home.Once I finished packing, my head still ached, and now my stomach did too. I went to the hospital. After a round of tests, I sat there holding the results, a little stunned. Chronic appendicitis. I'd need minimally invasive surgery.I sat down on a bench, my thoughts a tangle. Theresa always said my health was solid, that it made sense for her to focus more of her care on Hector. I wondered, if she ever found out

Chapter 5

A ringing filled Theresa's ears, drowning out whatever her friend said next. By the time the call ended, she stood frozen, her mind blank except for one thought.Zachary was sick? Why hadn't he told her?Panic began creeping into her chest. She thought back to the message she'd just sent him and felt a flicker of regret. She should have kept him in the dark a little longer.While her thoughts churned, Hector walked over and looped his arm through hers."Thanks for reposting that clarification for me today. Otherwise, I would have gotten torn apart."Torn apart.Those two words snapped her back to reality. She stared at him hard. To keep Hector from getting dragged through the mud, she'd pushed Zachary straight into the storm. Only now did she realize she'd been thinking of nothing but Hector this whole time, never once considering how Zachary must have felt being attacked like that.Oblivious to her expression, Hector pouted."Is Zachary still mad? He's making such a big deal

Chapter 6

From that day on, Theresa threw herself into a frantic search for Zachary's whereabouts. Eventually, she showed up at the door of Zachary's close friend, Adam.Adam opened the door but didn't let her in."Well, look who it is. Zachary's ex. What do you want?"Theresa ignored the mockery in his voice and got straight to the point."Where's Zachary? Is he here with you?"Adam only gave her a cold smile, as if he'd been waiting for her to show up."Zachary's a busy man. He doesn't have time to come see me."Theresa's jaw tightened."How much longer is he going to keep this up?""Keep what up? You still think he's just having a fit?"Adam doubled over laughing. A few seconds later, he straightened up and looked at her with open contempt."He's getting married. Didn't he send you an invitation?"The words hit Theresa like a bolt of lightning. She looked up, unable to believe what she'd just heard."You... you're joking.""Zachary found his father. His dad came to pick him up,

Chapter 7

Hector flinched at her outburst but quickly recovered, patting his chest."Theresa, what's gotten into you? Is Zachary still not over it? Don't worry, he always calms down on his own eventually. Honestly, you shouldn't keep coddling him, or he's just going to keep getting worse...""Zachary is gone!"Something in Theresa finally broke loose, and she rounded on him, furious."Every single time I tried to go get our marriage license, you always had some emergency! And now he wants to break up with me and marry someone else. Are you happy now?"Hector looked deeply wronged."I never forced you to come running. You're the one who said I could always call you when something came up. Besides, you promised my parents you'd take care of me."Looking at him like that, Theresa felt a wave of disgust rise in her. It was for someone this selfish that she'd pushed Zachary away, over and over again.Seeing that she'd gone quiet, Hector kept talking."If you ask me, the fact that Zachary cou

Chapter 8

Theresa stood a short distance away, her clothes rumpled, her eyes rimmed red. She looked at me with open pain in her eyes. Her gaze traveled downward, inch by inch, until it landed on the marriage license in my hand, and her pupils contracted sharply."Zachary... what is that?"Her voice came out barely above a whisper, trembling with disbelief.I looked at her, feeling nothing at all."A marriage license," I said. "I got married."I didn't say it loudly, but the words hit her hard enough that she swayed on her feet."That's impossible. There's no way.""Nothing impossible about it. My wife's gone to bring the car around. Would you like to meet her?"Her face went white, but she still forced a smile as she dug her own ID out of her pocket."Zachary, stop joking around. I know it was all my fault before. I never respected any boundaries. I won't have anything to do with Hector anymore. Let's go get our license right now. We already agreed to this."I cut through her rambling.

Chapter 9

I picked up the call, and to my surprise, it was Hector. He was crying on the other end."Zachary, I was wrong. I shouldn't have kept calling Theresa away on purpose. I shouldn't have egged my followers on to harass you either. "Please, get Theresa to leave me alone. She told everyone the truth online, and now the whole internet is tearing me apart. She won't let any company hire me, and she's threatened my parents into cutting me off too. "I'm scared to even leave my apartment. Can't you talk to her? Get her to let it go?"I let him finish crying, honestly impressed by his sheer nerve."Are you done?" I said. "I blocked Theresa a while back. Guess I forgot to block you too. Get lost."I hung up and blocked his number on the spot. The world felt genuinely quiet after that.My life picked up speed after that. I spent my days buried in work at the company. My father held me to a strict standard, and I worked late almost every night. Somehow, it felt satisfying rather than draini

Chapter 10

Theresa saw Zachary in his wedding suit through a photo a friend had taken. On the small screen, his eyes were soft, warm with genuine happiness. Every face around him wore the same look of joy.No one knew that in that moment, Theresa's heart felt like it had been carved out of her chest, the pain nearly enough to suffocate her. Only then did she truly understand that Zachary no longer belonged to her, not in any way that mattered.After seeing that he'd gotten married, Theresa shut herself in her apartment every day outside of work. At first, she tried to find something, anything, that had belonged to Zachary, thinking she might mail it to him just for an excuse to hear his voice again. She searched for a long time and found nothing at all.Zachary had been thorough. He'd cleared out every trace of himself, as if he'd never lived in that apartment at all. Hector's belongings, on the other hand, were scattered everywhere. Even the scent in the air was still Hector's favorite.

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