The Day I Gave Up on Us

For four years, a wife has been the one to patch things up: she makes breakfast every morning, keeps dinner warm, and waits in the living room. Her husband, Brandon Cruz, forgets their anniversary to take his assistant, Stella Beck, out for her birthday, and when she confronts him, he tells her to stop making a big deal out of it.

On a night when Ardenville is hit by its worst rainstorm in a decade, Brandon promises to pick her up after work. She waits at the bus stop for three hours, soaked and feverish, until she sees Stella's post thanking her boss for the ride home. She recognizes the dashboard and the small cross she gave him. This time she doesn't call or text; she taps the heart beneath the post, packs her bags, and leaves without a word.

When Brandon finally finds her, he begs her not to go, insisting he can change. But after years of being the only one who tried, she no longer feels anything at all.