The Woman I Didn't Marry

security infrastructure for the federal courthouse, when the edges of my vision sta

was my junior colleague, Ste

mell of antiseptic was nauseatingly

back among the liv

lf-eaten bag of chips in her lap. She was bright, witty, and refr

tion and dehydration," she said, crunching on a c

smile. "Stoppin

l glands," she quipped. "

nsion in my chest eased for a momen

he door

world s

with her name embroidered on it. She looked older, more polished, bu

her face before she smoothed it into a professional mask. "I heard one

Anderson. This is my boss, Ethan Lester. Ethan, this is t

thick I could h

tell the boss you're officially on medical leave, so don't even think about checking y

nce was

n," she said, her voice soft. "You just disappeared

the distance, all the years I'd spent building a wall around myself, and he

asked, the questi

id, her voice brittle. "He cheated on me. With some old flame from high sch

angest dream a few months ago. It felt so real. It was a whole other life. We were married, we ha

my throat. A dream.

contents spilling onto the floor. Amidst the lipstick

gram p

ifying echo of the past. The confirmation of t

ck it up, but it was t

ant," she whispered, her voic

place. The final, brutal truth of my past l

I' d stayed home for, the one

he sonogram in her hand,

a strangled whisper. "She wa

sob was