Loving the Wrong Man for Eight Years

Synopsis

Claire Summers found the photo in the editing room. It was 2:17 in the morning, and the first rain of winter was tapping against the windows. She sat curled up in her chair, bundled in a blanket she had washed so many times it had started to pill, and the screen in front of her was still frozen on the color grade for the last shot of her documentary. Her phone lit up. Emily had sent her ten texts back-to-back, and the last one was a screenshot. The screenshot was from Ethan Brooks' Instagram. His caption read: [Found my forever.] The photo showed a ring on the hand of a girl Claire had never seen before. The hand was slender and pale, with a tiny mole at the base of the ring finger, in the exact same spot as the one on Claire's middle finger. Claire stared at that mole for three full minutes. She didn't cry. Her throat felt like someone had stuffed a wad of wet cotton in it, and she couldn't swallow it down or cough it up. Without thinking, she pulled up her own Instagram. Three days ago, she had liked Ethan's birthday post from last year. She had left a long comment underneath, choosing every word as carefully as if she were writing a thesis, agonizing over whether any of it sounded too clingy. He never replied. She had told herself he was busy. He worked in the ER, and some days he barely had time to take a sip of water. Now she understood. He wasn't busy. He was busy making time for someone else.