The bitterness churning inside my chest rose like a tide threatening to spill over.
I stood up and walked toward the $1.99 bouquet of dried flowers.
They weren't worth anything. But back then, the love behind them was.
Now the love wasn't worth anything either.
With a soft thud, I tossed the dried flowers into the trash.
Back in the room, I opened the cabinet.
I took the new phone out of its box and slipped in my own SIM card.
The first thing I did after powering it on was quit my weekend side job.
The second thing was call my brother.
"Quinn Sullivan, can you send me the contact info for that lawyer friend of yours?"
My money. I wasn't going to let anyone else walk away with a single cent of it.
"What's going on?"
Maybe something in my voice gave me away, because my brother picked up on it immediately.
"It's nothing. I'll tell you once I've sorted it out."
He didn't push. A second later, a business card popped up on my screen.
The lawyer called me back almost right away.
"So let me get this straight. You're not married, but every dollar you saved, you transferred to him?"
"And the down payment on the house includes your money?"