After 8-Year Love Crash, I Won Big

Chapter 3

The hotel room smelled of cheap air freshener. I set the suitcase on its side and unzipped the bottom compartment to get my charging cable. My hand touched an old kraft paper envelope.

Inside was a tarnished silver bracelet, its clasp loose. He'd given it to me in our first year together. "I walked down three whole streets before I found this one," he'd told me. "The shop owner said it's pure silver."

I wore it for three years. Even after it broke, I couldn't bring myself to throw it away.

I sat on the edge of the bed and turned the bracelet over, looking at the batch number stamped on the back. I opened eBay, typed in the number, and searched.

The first result was a listing from eight years ago, posted by a woman's account. The photo was the exact same bracelet, against a floral bedsheet.

The caption read:

My ex gave me this. He said he walked down three whole streets to find it. I looked it up. It's from a wholesale market. Twenty dollars a piece, ten on sale.

I clicked into her profile and scrolled to the bottom. A photo from eight and a half years ago: a couple in front of a carousel. The man with the short hair, his arm around her shoulder, was Cole.

He'd borrowed the line from a girl who'd already thrown him out.

What I thought was his heart. Twenty dollars.

I didn't cry. I put the bracelet back in the envelope and dropped it in the trash.

My phone buzzed against the duvet. Cole was calling. A day and a half had passed since I'd left the reception hall.

"Cooled off yet?" His voice was unhurried. "There's food you made in the fridge, it's about to go bad. Come home. Stop wasting money out there."

"Let's break up," I said.

He let out a short laugh. "Sure, throw your fit. I'll be right here waiting. Let's see how long you last."

"Cole. I left the key in the fruit bowl on the coffee table."

I hung up. I opened f*******: and posted:

Broke up with Cole. My decision. Please don't pass messages along. Thanks.

Then I blocked him.

Five minutes later, my screen wouldn't stop lighting up. Missed calls climbed to thirty-seven.

I flipped the phone face-down on the table and turned off the light.

That night, I slept more soundly than I had in years.