Chapter 3

The next morning, I told my grandfather I was going into town to run some errands. He was a retired miner, tough as leather but with a deep well of kindness in his eyes. He was the only one who had ever told me I was smart enough for more than this town.

"You seem different today, Sarah," he said, looking at me over his coffee cup. "There's a fire in you."

I just smiled. "Maybe I'm just excited about the wedding, Grandpa."

He grunted, not looking convinced, but let me go.

I walked into the town's only diner, the bell over the door jingling. The place was the nerve center of our community, where news traveled faster than a phone call. I knew they would be here.

And they were. Ethan and Jessica were tucked into a corner booth, their heads close together. Jessica was dabbing at her eyes with a napkin, her face a perfect mask of delicate sorrow. Ethan was patting her hand, his expression full of heroic concern. They looked like the stars of a tragic play.

In my first life, I would have turned and fled, my heart aching with jealousy and insecurity.

This time, I walked straight to their table.

"Ethan," I said, my voice pleasant. "Jessica."

They both looked up, startled. Ethan' s face flushed with guilt. Jessica quickly rearranged her features into a look of pained surprise.

"Sarah! What are you doing here?" Ethan asked, a little too loudly.

"Getting breakfast," I said simply. I looked directly at Jessica. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but I saw the flicker of triumph in them. "I heard you got the receptionist job. Congratulations. I'm so happy for you."

Jessica' s jaw went slack. This was not the reaction she expected. She wanted a confrontation. She wanted me to look pathetic and jealous.

"Oh, Sarah," she said, her voice trembling. "I feel so terrible. Taking it from you. But Ethan said... he said you didn't mind."

"Not at all," I said, my smile never wavering. "A woman in your position needs all the help she can get. It must be so difficult, dealing with a fresh divorce and all."

I let the words hang in the air. The couple in the next booth stopped talking and turned to listen.

Jessica' s eyes narrowed. "It has been... a nightmare."

"I can only imagine," I said, my voice full of fake sympathy. "It's brave of you to be out in public at all. Most women would be at home, grieving the end of their marriage. But here you are, leaning on another woman's fiancé for support. You're so strong."

The words were a direct hit. Jessica' s face paled. Ethan looked back and forth between us, his brow furrowed in confusion. He wasn't smart enough to understand the undercurrents, but he knew something was wrong.

"Sarah, that's not fair," he stammered. "I'm just helping a friend."

"Of course you are," I said, patting his shoulder. "You're a good man, Ethan. Always helping the needy." I turned my gaze back to Jessica, whose face was now a tight mask of fury. "Well, I'll let you two get back to your... friendly breakfast. I have things to do."

I turned and walked to the counter, my back straight, my limp barely noticeable. I could feel every eye in the diner on me. I had not raised my voice. I had not cried. I had simply stated the facts.

And in the quiet, judgmental space of a small-town diner, the facts were damning. The noble hero and the poor victim suddenly looked like something else entirely.

I ordered a coffee to go, paid my dollar, and walked out into the sunshine, leaving the whispers to bloom in my wake.