Their Joke Ended With One Word: Ex Chapter 02

Their Joke Ended With One Word: Ex Chapter 02

I watched the trees fall away behind us and thought about every frame of the years I’d spent with him.

Then the driver kindly asked if I needed a tissue, and I realized my face had been wet the whole time.

I wiped the tears off my cheeks.

“Thank you, I’m fine.”

Once I was done crying, there wasn’t a single tear left on my face.

Back at the apartment, everything I did ran on autopilot.

I opened my suitcase and started putting things in, one at a time.

When I got to the dark green dress, my hands stopped.

I’d worn that dress that afternoon.

Before we left, I’d turned in front of the mirror three times and asked him, “Does this look good?”

He hadn’t even looked up. “It’s fine.”

I’d picked earrings and jewelry to go with it and done my makeup.

I’d put the whole thing together with real care.

Then, right as we were leaving, he frowned.

“That dress doesn’t really suit you. Change.”

It didn’t suit me.

Only after we got there did I understand. The woman he’d never gotten over had shown up in the same one.

He’d had that dress made for me by hand for my birthday last year.

I’d thought it was one of a kind.

It had been one of two.

I pulled the dress back out of the suitcase and hung it in the closet.

I didn’t want to take it with me.

I’d covered for him so long that the weight of it had settled into everything.

Even his gifts had gotten heavy.

Five years of my life were in that apartment.

And when the zipper closed, the room looked half empty.

I sat on the edge of the bed and texted my parents.

I sent: [Mom, Dad, the wedding is off.]

I added: [The overseas project is pushing hard, and I have to leave tomorrow.]

My mother called back within a second. I didn’t pick up, because I was afraid my voice would catch and she’d know something was wrong.

And then everything would come apart.

I typed instead: [It’s a work thing. I can handle it myself.]

She was quiet for a while, then answered. Mom: [Your life is yours to decide. Your dad and I will handle the relatives, so don’t worry about that.]

I looked at the screen, and my nose stung.

I replied: [Thanks, Mom.]

Then I thought about it and sent a voice memo to Marty Doyle, my business partner.

“Marty, that impossible client we could never land, what city is he in now? Send me the file, and I’ll fly out there.”

Marty answered in seconds.

Marty: [Have you lost your mind? We’ve been emailing that guy for six months, and he’s never once written back. You think flying out there gets you in the door?]

If it didn’t, at least I’d get to see the scenery.

All I needed was a new destination to carry the impulse a little further.

I threw my phone in my bag, stood up, and looked around the place I’d lived in for years.

It hurt to leave. It would have hurt worse to stay.

I was headed for the door when I heard someone punching in the code on the keypad.

I stepped back without thinking.

Then a voice came through it. “It’s fine, she’s crashing here one night. She won’t mind.”

And then I saw Ian, with a tipsy Chloe on his arm.