Crystal and Lyle stood in front of me, hand-in-hand with matching couple outfits and matching happy smiles on their faces.
The romantic sight made me taste bile in the back of my mouth as my chest squeezed a little tighter.
Too drained of energy to bother arguing with them, I tried to step past them and walk away when Crystal grabbed ahold of my arm.
“Yvonne, there was no way you could have ever been with a guy like Christopher. When Lyle told me about it, I thought he was only joking. But now that you know Christopher is getting married to Monica, you should try to step away from the situation as soon as possible. Besides, you’re a divorcee as well. Trying to cling onto someone else’s fiancé will only ruin your reputation further.”
I wonder who the cause of my divorce was. I glared daggers at her.
“Ms. Martin is the most famous bachelorette in Avenport, and there are lines of men waiting for her hand in marriage! They will now retreat only because her fiancé is Christopher. There’s no way you could beat someone like that. I’ll give you a piece of advice. Give up. If you need money, you could always come to me! I have too much to spare,” she said, finishing with a saccharine-sweet smile that contrasted her venomous words.
“Stop crying! People are staring!” Lyle interrupted as he gave me a sidelong glance, then turned back to tell Crystal, “Now’s not the time. You can head on first to the restaurant; I’ll catch up later.”
“But the baby in my tummy is getting hungry,” she pouted, one hand on her baby bump.
“I just have something to tell Yvonne, okay?” he coaxed. “Good girl.”
“Alright, then. You better hurry up, or I won’t wait for you.” Crystal turned around and threw a disdainful sneer over her shoulder at me before striding away.
I couldn’t be bothered to give her a reaction. The warm October wind felt like an incessant chill slipping in through my clothes and freezing me to the bone. Not even hugging my arms proved helpful in warming myself up.
“I told you before to not get involved with Christopher, but you wouldn’t listen. Now, look what happened.” Lyle’s eyebrows were furrowed together in frustration, an expression that I was all too familiar with. He used to always look at me this way whenever I made a fool of myself in public. “When will I ever be afforded the reassurance that you’ll be fine?”
“The joke’s over. Curtains are drawn. Can I leave now?” I deadpanned.
God’s being particularly cruel today. I’d just been fired from my job, Christopher was getting married to a woman who I would never be able to match up to, and when I was at the lowest of my low, I just had to bump into who else but my ex-husband and his mistress.
Having fun watching the show from up there, God?
“I care about you, Yvonne. You can’t not let me call you out on your bullcrap when it’s clearly bit you back.” He aggressively tugged at my arm as if trying to shake me awake. “You move out of there tomorrow, you hear me? If you need money, I’ll transfer a million over to your bank account right this second. For goodness’ sake, you’re a lady of the Tanner family and my ex-wife! You can’t let yourself be treated as a plaything by a guy just for money! That reflects badly on me, too!”
A lady of the Tanner family. I’d never wanted to acknowledge that part of my identity, so Lyle bringing it up only made me want to laugh out loud.
“Stop acting like a knight in shining armor, alright? I would rather sleep on the streets than rely on your money,” I spat out. I didn’t want to see him or anyone else. All I wanted was to find a quiet place where no one would be able to find me so I could cry my heart out. “Can I go yet?”
“You…” Clearly taken aback by my outburst, Lyle shoved me away from him. Due to the height of my heels, I instantly stumbled backward and somehow ended up in the middle of the road. As I vaguely registered a throbbing pain in my ankle and saw a car speeding my way, a thought crossed my mind. Death doesn’t sound too bad right now.
