He Bought Her a Car, I Ruined Him

Chapter 3

"You can't keep suffering like this. You need to start looking out for yourself," Sophie said.

She pushed the chocolates toward me again and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. As she moved, a slightly worn heirloom jade bracelet slipped from beneath her sleeve.

"Look at this." She held out her wrist proudly. "He gave it to me last week. He said it had been in his family for generations and was meant for the woman he planned to marry."

I stared at the bracelet. A faint cloudy streak ran through the deep green jade.

My grandmother had given me that bracelet shortly before she died.

The previous week, Grant had stared at it for an unusually long time. He claimed it had lost its shine and offered to take it to a jeweler he knew for a free professional cleaning.

I had been naive enough to think he was finally being thoughtful.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Sophie turned her wrist to admire it. "He took me to his parents' house for a holiday family dinner last weekend. They made a huge meal and treated me like a queen. His mother kept calling me sweetheart and insisted that I wear the bracelet."

I clenched my jaw until it ached.

In three years of marriage, Grant had never taken me to his hometown. Every holiday, he found a new excuse.

"My relatives are snobs. They'll only make you feel unwelcome. The house is old and uncomfortable, and you'd hate staying there. I'll deal with them alone. You stay home and rest."

He had never been trying to protect me. He had kept me away because he had already given another woman the place that should have been mine in his family.

Sophie's phone buzzed again. She checked the caller ID, answered, and put the call on speaker.

"Babe, it's windy. Grab your water and come back before you get cold."

Grant's voice floated through the speaker, soft and affectionate.

He had spoken to me that way when he was courting me and begging me to marry him. After the wedding, that tenderness disappeared.

At almost the same moment, my phone vibrated in my pocket.

Grant had sent me another message.

Grant: I can't send you money for household expenses until next month. I'm short right now. Stop blowing up my phone. You're driving me crazy.

Within seconds, Grant had sent two completely different messages to two women standing only a few feet apart.

Sophie answered in a teasing voice, "I know. I'm coming. You're so impatient."

After hanging up, she turned back to me, her expression earnest.

"Take my advice and file for divorce as soon as you can."

She took my hand, her tone suddenly serious.

"A man like that will bleed you dry. Staying with him will ruin your life. You're beautiful. Once you leave him, you'll find someone much better."

I looked through the window at the gleaming new Audi. Grant was leaning against the door and checking his hair in the side mirror.

I carried my water to the register.

"You're right," I said.

I paid for the water and said calmly, "This marriage is over."