Chapter 1A Three-Person Anniversary Is Two People Too Many

On our anniversary, my boyfriend brought his "relationship coach" for a three-person date.

I exploded. "What are you thinking?"

He shrugged. "Ava helped us. Why shouldn’t she celebrate with us?"

"Stop making a scene," he added. "She doesn’t mind."

The audacity made me faint.

I woke alone on a theater bench. Michael and Ava were huddled over his phone.

"Maybe I should go," she fake-whispered.

"She’s faking for attention," he said.

I texted him: "Three’s a crowd. I’m out."

His phone pinged. He didn’t look up.

I laughed bitterly and walked away—not knowing someone had been waiting to replace me.

* * *

I pulled out my phone and called the guy who had been patiently waiting in the wings.

"I'm looking to celebrate my anniversary with someone else. Are you free?"

There was a two-second pause on the other end, followed by a triumphant shout that nearly blew out my eardrum.

"BE—RIGHT—THERE—"

After hanging up, the faint sound of laughter from across the lobby made the emotions I'd been suppressing erupt. My heart clenched with a sharp, familiar pain.

Michael and I had been together for three years. His secretary, Ava, had been his self-proclaimed "relationship coach" for two of them.

Every single important date, every holiday I looked forward to, Michael would find some excuse to bring her along. I had fought, I had cried, but all it ever got me was the silent treatment from him and an even more blatant display of their "friendship."

The ridiculous thing was, I couldn't bring myself to let go.

But in that moment, waking up on that bench, I suddenly realized how pointless it all was.

I was done.

I had just sat down at a Starbucks when my phone started buzzing incessantly. It was Michael.

Hannah, can you stop being so unreasonable? You're making Ava really upset!

You have two minutes to get back here.

The same old lines. I was sick of hearing them.

I don't want a boyfriend with no boundaries. We're done.

After the message sent, I quickly blocked his number and all his social media. A wave of relief washed over me. I ordered my favorite Frappuccino and settled in by the window to enjoy a rare moment of singlehood.

I was staring out the window, lost in thought, when Michael's angry voice suddenly boomed in my ear.

"Hannah, what is your problem? You're breaking up with me because Ava watched a movie with us?"

"You've threatened to break up a hundred times. Aren't you tired of playing these games?"

I froze. This mall was huge. How did he find me so fast?

Before I could figure it out, Ava's sickly-sweet voice piped up.

"Hannah, there's really nothing going on between Michael and me. You don't have to fight with him over me every time. He's so good to you. You have no idea how much I envy you."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Right, 'nothing.' You just share every detail of your days, she touches your face, you hold her hand, and you two occasionally share a milkshake. Totally normal friend stuff!"

My words shut her up. Her face flushed a deep red as she mumbled, "That's what friends do. It's not a big deal."

Michael immediately jumped to her defense. "Ava's right. You're overreacting. You're so petty! You should learn to be more understanding, like Ava."

His words reminded me of when we first got together. He had held me and promised that I just needed to be myself, that I never had to change for him. He loved the whole me, not just the good parts.

Now, in his eyes, Ava was the good one.

I was the bad one.

The thought drained all the fight out of me. I turned my head and ignored them both.