He Held Her Hand At The Grave, I Held The Divorce Papers At The Wake

Synopsis

At my grandmother's funeral, Phillip Sherman, my husband of three years in a secret marriage, suddenly appeared as my cousin's date. My phone vibrated with a message from Phillip. [Don't you dare tell Lily we're married.] Lily Spencer. Granddaughter of my grandmother's twin sister. The rivalry between our families had burned for two generations. Lily and I had competed for grades, for height, for the title of "good daughter." Every single time, I lost. Now I had lost my husband to Lily, too. The ache in my chest was suffocating. Yet Phillip's texts kept coming. [Lily and I were college classmates. She needed me to play the role. [Be reasonable. Don't make a scene and ruin your grandmother's funeral.] The numbness spread through my chest again. Of course, I would be reasonable. After all, I had called Phillip dozens of times, weeping, begging him to attend the funeral. He had claimed a contract negotiation kept him away. After that, how could I be anything but reasonable? So after the funeral, I did the reasonable thing. I terminated the pregnancy and filed for divorce at the courthouse.