“I honestly wasn’t sure she’d ever believe she could do it.”
My stomach twisted.
Make it where?
“I honestly wasn’t sure she’d ever believe she could do it.”
He chuckled.
“No… no, she still doesn’t know.”
Blood rushed loudly through my ears.
I wanted to burst into the room.
I wanted to demand answers.
Instead, I stayed hidden.
Fear rooted me in place.
“No… no, she still doesn’t know.”
His next sentence shattered something inside me.
“If she’d figured it out earlier, the whole thing would’ve fallen apart.”
My heart raced.
What had he been hiding?
I leaned forward, desperate to hear more.
Then he said the words that sent me stumbling backward toward the front door.
“My plan is about to work.”
His footsteps stopped.
“My plan is about to work.”
I never heard the rest.
I couldn’t.
Panic swallowed every rational thought.
I rushed outside before he could see me.
By the time I reached my car, tears blurred the windshield.
I sat there shaking so violently I couldn’t fit the key into the ignition.
I never heard the rest.
A lifetime.
Our entire relationship.
Every birthday.
Every anniversary.
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Every promise.
What if none of it had been real?
I drove aimlessly for almost an hour before parking beside a quiet lake.
The wind rattled the bare trees.
What if none of it had been real?
My phone buzzed.
Matthew.
I let it ring.
A text appeared.
Where are you? I thought I heard your car a while ago. Are you okay?
Another message arrived less than a minute later.
Ashley? You’re scaring me.
I stared at the screen until it dimmed.
Ashley? You’re scaring me.
Then another memory surfaced.
Freshman year of college.
I had filled out an application for a prestigious summer program.
I spent three days convincing myself not to submit it.
Finally, I crumpled the paperwork and tossed it into my backpack.
A week later, I’d received an acceptance email.
I remembered crying with happiness.
I spent three days convincing myself not to submit it.
I’d told everyone I couldn’t believe I’d actually sent it.
Had I?
Or… Had someone else?
The thought hit me so suddenly I gasped.
One memory became two.
Two became ten.
Tiny moments I’d always dismissed as luck.
Little coincidences.
Doors opening exactly when I’d been ready to quit.
Or… Had someone else?
The pattern was impossible to ignore once I started looking.
And suddenly, I couldn’t stop looking.
***
For the next three days, I became a stranger in my own life.
I smiled through dinner.
I answered Matthew’s questions.
I kissed him goodnight.
Every lie tasted like ash.
Meanwhile, I searched.
Storage boxes.
Desk drawers.
Nothing.
Every lie tasted like ash.
I began wondering if I’d imagined everything.
Then, on the fourth afternoon, I found the first crack.
Matthew had left his laptop open while taking a call outside.
I wasn’t proud of what I did.
