Fieldside Concession Stand
My girlfriend, Tasha, was a hopeless romantic, hooked on using a breakup to test how much I love her.
The first time, she threatened to kill herself when I was in the middle of defending my thesis.
She pushed me to turn down a six-figure job offer, so I’d spend the day at the beach with her.
Later, Tasha told me, “I just wanted to know whether your job or I meant more to you.”
The second time, she showed up at my father’s funeral, arm in arm with her guy best friend, Jesse.
She demanded a public apology, all because I didn’t answer her call the day before.
“I was only testing your emotional stability. Why are you so upset?”
The third time came in the fifth year of us dating.
She rented a massive screen downtown and broadcast a video of her kissing Jesse.
Tasha made a post on her social media. “If he hikes to the top of Mount Rainier and proposes to me, I’ll forgive him.”
Her friend group was already betting on the hours it would take me to reach the summit in tears.
Too bad they were all wrong.
I was done proving myself in Tasha’s so-called tests of love.