Chapter 2 - The Phone Call
It happened on a quiet Friday night at home, takeout containers still sitting on the coffee table. Bradley dropped to one knee so suddenly I thought he'd dropped something. When I realized what was actually happening, I started laughing and crying at the same time.
"Claudia," he said, grinning nervously, "will you marry me?"
"Yes." I barely let him finish the question.
For the next hour nothing outside our apartment mattered at all. Then Bradley called his mother. He put the phone on speaker, because "she's going to find out eventually anyway."
"Mom," he said, "Claudia and I are engaged."
A long silence. I watched his smile fall.
Finally, Vivian said, "I think you're making a terrible mistake."
His jaw tightened. "Good night, Mom." He hung up.
I stared at the dark phone screen. "Well," I murmured, "that went beautifully."
He laughed, humorless. "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize for her."
"I thought she'd at least pretend to be happy for us."
I leaned into him. "She'll calm down." I said it because I wanted to believe it.
Instead, she stopped pretending altogether. For two weeks she barely spoke to me — if I walked into a room, she found someone else to talk to; if I texted about wedding plans, she answered Bradley instead.
Then, out of nowhere, she called. I was at work when her name lit up my phone. I stepped into an empty conference room. "Hello?"
Her voice was almost sweet. "Claudia, I think we need to talk privately. Woman to woman."
Every instinct told me not to go. Some ridiculous part of me hoped she was finally ready to make peace.
"About what?"
May you like
"I'd rather discuss it in person."
I should have said no. Instead, two evenings later, I drove to her house alone.
