“Can we just forget about this little accident?”
I nodded, and the drone show was called off.
We walked to the nearby square holding hands.
Flowers and balloons made it look like a fairy
tale. People were crowded around the center,
talking excitedly.
He pulled me in, then dropped to one knee.
“It’s our five–year anniversary, and I’m officially
proposing.”
“Sarah, will you marry me?”
This was the moment I had dreamed of. He
remembered, recreating it perfectly.
Tears fell as I steadied myself.
Jake was certain I wouldn’t refuse, holding out
the ring and waiting for my “yes.”
But just as I was about to say it, his phone rang
again.
In a moment this important, he answered the
phone.
His voice was annoyed. “I’m proposing here, can it wait?”
A panicked voice on the other end yelled, loud enough to hear: “Brenda fainted! It’s an
emergency!”
He was silent for a moment but immediately
stood up.
I wiped away my tears and held out my hand.
“I do.”
Jake looked at me, and his eyes showed both guilt and gratitude. But he forgot about the ring
and was still holding his phone.
I took the ring myself and put it on my finger.
The second it was on, he hurried away, not
saying a word.
The crowd started whispering, their pity a cold
knife to my chest.
My longed–for proposal had turned into a joke.
I stood there for a long time, until Brenda’s
564
<
social media update popped up.
It was a series of photos with Jake. The biggest one in the middle was a pregnancy test. “Two big pieces of news! My leading man is
also my baby’s daddy.”
Jake had replied: “Happy birthday.”
The wind was biting and cold. My fingers
tightened on my phone, my blood running cold.
So that was the emergency, no wonder he was
in a hurry.
It was late when I finally went home.
I lay on the sofa, staring numbly at the ring on
my finger.
It was just as sparkly, but it wasn’t the one I
wanted. The ones you only buy once in a
lifetime.
I thought that was special, but Jake said that
was a gimmick, and it was better to just get a
real diamond.
That was one of our few arguments. We just
couldn’t agree on that.
I’d been patiently waiting for the jeweler to
restock the rings.
<
Then, Brenda posts a photo of her wearing the
exact ring set.
So, that’s why he wouldn’t agree with me? He
was giving Brenda the symbolic moment she
wanted.
He had a child with her, so why wouldn’t he?
To him, love was a buy–one–get–one–free deal.
I couldn’t tell which love was the real deal. I just
chuckled to myself.
If Brenda wanted everything, she could have it.
The screen flickered in the darkness. Brenda
was obviously annoyed by my silence. She
called.
“I just turned Jake down, it’s too risky to get
pregnant. Can’t you just be my stand–in?
“He goes crazy on me, I can barely walk. But he
said you’re boring and he never did that with
you, you must really suck.”
She went on and on about where all the action
went down: “Your balcony’s great, he really
likes that…”
So, this was what I was going to talk to Brenda
about?
