No matter what conditions he set, I agreed calmly. His expression shifted, a flicker of confusion crossing his face. “Penny, what’s wrong with you? You’re not acting like yourself.”
Not acting like myself? I almost laughed. That was probably because he didn’t know me anymore.
There was a time when I would’ve trusted him without question. He used to tell me that his relationship with Becky was purely platonic, just a friendship that had lasted for years, and I believed him. He promised he would marry me and that I could always be myself around him. I believed that too.
And what did I get for believing in him? Night after night, he didn’t come home, crossing boundaries with Becky as if they didn’t exist. He refused to meet my parents, using the excuse of a stripped-down wedding to pressure me. He made fun of my taste, mocked the town I came from.
Whoever I’d fallen in love with—whatever I’d once cherished in him—had vanished long ago. Now there was nothing left but an empty shell.