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Drew wouldn’t be acting like this.
I reach into the bag and pull the bagel out, splitting it in two and jamming it into the toaster. While I wait, I make myself a coffee. When the bagel is done, I smear it with a hearty layer of cream cheese.
Just as I sit down to eat my breakfast, my phone goes off. It’s Sherilee, one of my closest friends and one of my bridesmaids. I swipe my thumb across the screen.
“Hey,” I say, not totally sure what’s going to greet me on the other end of the line.
“Holy freaking shitballs, Pres!” Sherileeneverswears. “Are you okay? Drew filled me in on what happened and I swear to God I am so ready to march straight to Mike’s house and punch him right in that bulbous nose. How dare he? How freakingdarehe!”
“Sher, it’s okay. I’m okay.” I take a bite of the bagel and find that, actually, Iamokay. Surprisingly. Angry, but okay.
“I almost couldn’t believe it,” she says, her voice returning to its normal pitch. “I thought you two were the perfect couple.”
I guess on the outside we looked it. On the inside... It had felt perfect in the beginning. Mike had been sweet and attentive. Charming, even. Where did it all go wrong? I try to think back, to figure out when we crossed that line from being happy to being...a means to an end.
But I don’t know how we got to that point. Maybe he was never really happy and I was too blind to notice.
“There’s no such thing as perfect.” I take another bite. “Sorry, I’m eating breakfast. Don’t need to worry about fitting into my wedding dress anymore.”
Sherilee sighs. I can picture her, twirling her long, highlighted hair like she always does when she’s annoyed or thinking. “Where are you?”
I fill her in on the situation with the apartment. “But I need to get back to Mike’s place at some point this week and rescue my grandmother’s watch.”
“Wait until he’s out,” she advises. “I don’t think it’s wise to see him face to face. Not yet, anyway. Has he tried to contact you?”
“There were a few texts the day of the wedding,” I reply. They’d been all over the map—angry and accusatory, then begging me to come back. “I don’t think he knows what he wants.”
Well, aside from his father’s company.
“He was pretty upset the day of,” Sherilee says. “Which I guess is a bigduh.”
Probably for all the wrong reasons. If he never loved me, then my leaving would have only bruised his ego. Not his heart.
How was I so blind? I had convinced myself he really was the love of my life because he did all the “right” things like bringing me flowers and planning extravagant holidays and insisting we go to fancy restaurants for dinner. They were things that movies had taught me equaled romance. But the real stuff—the deep conversations and personal growth and bonding—had been absent and I’d never questioned it.
Anger bubbles up inside me—not at Mike, but at myself. I should have seen the signs.
“He took great pleasure in telling me he has an appointment with the jeweler on Wednesday to get the money back on your ring. That could be your opportunity to sneak in while he’s out.”
I breathe a sigh of relief. “You’re a gem, Sherilee.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“I’ll get Drew to come with me, but thanks.” I shake my head, as if trying to dislodge the worries. “Anyway, can we please not talk about this anymore? I want to move on. I’m so done trying to be in a relationship. This is going to be a new era for me, no more Marriage Material Presley.”
Sherilee laughed. “Oh yeah, what’s the plan?”
“No plan.” I think back to last night with Sebastian and my lip curls up into a smile. “No strings of any kind. I want to go out and have fun and do all the things I missed out on because I was chasing this stupid white-picket-fence ideal.”
There’s quiet on the other end of the line. Sherilee is happily married to the love of her life, so I know she still believes in fairy tales. Maybe for some people those dreams come true, but I’ve had a ring put on my finger twice now and both times it ended in disaster.
“What do you think you missed out on?” she asks.
“I’ve never had a one-night stand, ever. I’ve never let myself fall in lust with a guy without wanting it to go somewhere. I’ve never had sex in a forbidden location. Hell, I’ve never even told a guy what my fantasies are.” I let out an annoyed huff. “I was too worried about Mike judging me for being some dirty perv, so I never asked foranythingin bed.”
“So what you’re saying is that you want to go out, find a cute guy and bang your brains out?” She laughed. “Sounds pretty good to me.”
“That’sexactlywhat I’m going to do.”
