One-Way Ticket to a New Life

Synopsis

I saw that chat log on James's tablet. It was 11 PM. He came out of the shower, took a call, and stepped out onto the balcony, his voice barely above a whisper. The tablet was still on, showing a group chat with his buddies. The group was called "The Uptown Quartet." So cheesy it made me cringe. The messages were scrolling up, one after another. Ryan sent a voice message, and I hit play on speakerphone. [Man, isn't this a bit much? Emily's been waiting for this for ages.] James replied with a text, four words: [Stay out of it.] I scrolled up a bit more. Samuel: [Dude, if Emily finds out you're ditching her for the honeymoon and taking Lily to Islehaven instead, she'll flip out and raise hell.] James replied: [She won't find out.] Ryan: [What if she does?] James: [So what if she does? It's Lily's birthday wish, one last trip together before we make it official. I promised her, and a man keeps his word.] After a three-second pause, he sent another message. [Emily's always making a scene over trivial stuff. It's really getting on my nerves. Maybe this will finally teach her to get her act together.] I stared at that line for a long time. So it was "trivial stuff," huh? To him, our honeymoon was nothing but "trivial stuff." I'd been looking forward to it for three months, picked out the hotel two months in advance, put together a twenty-page travel guide and marked all the best spots for photos. And to him, all that was "trivial stuff." But Lily's birthday wish? That was the real deal. I felt nothing at all. It wasn't me pretending to be calm. It was real. It felt like my heart had finally frozen over.