Chapter 3

I wandered around the apartment complex with my suitcase for ten minutes, just walking in circles. Finally, the security guard on his rounds found me, shining his flashlight in my face.

"Ms. Miller? Did you forget your keys? Why didn't you call someone to pick you up? It's not safe to be out here this late."

Even the security guard was worried about my safety, but Ethan wasn't. It hit me then, with crushing weight, that I truly had nowhere to go. After college, I had turned down a fantastic job offer in a big city to follow Ethan to this unfamiliar town. I gave up my own dreams for his. Over the years, because I moved, I lost touch with most of my old friends. The tears I' d been holding back finally started to fall, hot and fast down my cheeks. I wasn't crying because Ethan was a bad guy. I was crying for myself. I was crying because I was so angry at myself, because I knew for years that this was wrong, but I never, ever had the courage to leave.

Everyone had warned me. Don't be the rebound. The story of Ethan and Ashley was famous on campus. But I was a fool. I thought I could wait him out. I believed that ten years of steady companionship could eventually mean more than a fleeting, youthful romance. I believed that if I just stayed by his side long enough, he would finally see me. For ten years, I helped him get over Ashley's sudden departure. I helped him patch things up with his family after they fell apart. I helped him build his design studio from nothing, one painful step at a time.

Now, Ethan was a successful young designer, and I was supposed to be the woman he was going to marry. I looked up at the window of what was supposed to be my home. The lights were dark. It was all a dream. I had just been dreaming for ten years. What was never mine could never be mine.

I was about to look up a cheap hotel nearby when my phone buzzed with a series of messages.

"Hey Chloe, I know it's Valentine's Day and I shouldn't bother you and Ethan, you're probably all lovey-dovey at home."

"I don't expect you to come see me."

"Just recommend some good places to eat in the city, I'm here for a business trip."

It was Sarah Jenkins, my best friend from college. She was the one who had told me, point-blank, not to get involved with Ethan. She had a fiery temper and had even yelled at me, "If you get together with him, we're not friends anymore." I thought she was being dramatic back then. It was just a relationship, what was the big deal? But even though she said those harsh words, she never really cut me off. We didn't talk much, but we followed each other on social media and always sent holiday texts.

I wiped my tears with the back of my hand and typed a reply.

"Can you put me up for a night?"

The second I sent it, her phone was ringing me.

"What happened? Did you fight with Ethan?"

"I always said Ethan was no good! Come on, take a cab to the Grand View Hotel, I'll meet you downstairs."

The moment I saw her in the hotel lobby, she launched into a tirade.

"Where's Ethan? He let you wander around alone with a suitcase in the middle of the night?"

"Didn't you tell me you guys were getting married this year? Where is he? I was wondering why you didn't post any pictures this Valentine's Day!"

"I told you, I'm a good judge of character. Ethan's unreliable, and you just went along with it, you-"

Everything she said was true. I couldn't even argue. Seeing my red, swollen eyes, looking like they were about to burst into tears again, she finally stopped yelling about Ethan. She just pulled me into a big, tight hug.

After a long moment, Sarah's hand playfully squeezed the soft flesh around my waist. She pulled back and burst out laughing.

"Chloe, you've gained weight!"

"I have not!"

I denied it, but I knew it was true. I hadn't worked in years, just staying at home, my world shrinking until it only contained Ethan. I barely saw anyone else. Sarah, on the other hand, looked even more amazing than she did in college. She was always running around, meeting clients, but she still found time for Pilates. She was a senior executive at a major corporation now. She just radiated a kind of confidence I couldn't even imagine having. For no reason at all, I envied her.