Table for One: I’m Done Being Your Second Choice

Chloe has spent two years building a life around Ethan, but his assistant Maya only has to mention that rainy days are boring for him to book a flight and lean across a candlelit table to feed her. When Chloe burned with a fever, he said it was too far. When she wanted the ocean, he promised Memorial Day weekend and then bailed. So she flew alone, ate alone, and asked for a table for one.

Back home, Ethan is calm, explaining the dinner away as a team outing and calling her spiraling when she notices his indigo windbreaker missing from the closet. She packs half a suitcase, leaves the rest behind, and walks out. At Harper's, over hot pot, her friend lays out the four phases he is already running through, warning that he is certain she will crawl back.

Then Maya's polished apology arrives, and Chloe has to decide whether she is truly done being his second choice.