I read the text message thrice.
I might not be the brightest, but even I could tell that this woman was taunting me.
Even though I had already guessed why Nathan was late, Lucille Young’s text still left me feeling suffocated.
Nathan and I had grown up together. We were childhood sweethearts, practically inseparable. When I was little, I had vowed to marry him and become his wife when I grew up.
I had just started elementary school when I made that declaration. It also made our parents elated.
Nathan had always been close to me, too.
That was until we went to college.
For the first time ever, he brought another woman home—Lucille Young. I realized from their interaction that Nathan’s closeness to me wasn’t love.
That realization made me panic.
After we graduated from college, I jokingly suggested that we officially get married.
Our parents agreed to the idea, but Nathan did not—he turned me down mercilessly.
For the next eight years, I had asked him to get married dozens of times.
He had only agreed to seven of them—and every one of those seven times, he stood me up.
Every time, Lucille would send me a perfectly-timed text to taunt me.
Just then, my phone buzzed again.
Thinking it was Lucille, I instinctively moved to reject the call, only to see that it was a friend, Julia Hart, calling.
