A Joke Proved He Never Loved Me

I suddenly laughed. "What kind of gift?"

"I don't know. Paige didn't tell me." Jared paused, then added, "But she said you'll definitely love it."

I leaned against the wardrobe, gripping my phone.

"Fine, she can be my bridesmaid."

There was a moment of silence on the other end, as if he hadn't expected me to agree so readily.

"I'll let her know then."

He was about to hang up, but I stopped him. "Jared."

"Yeah?"

"Did you mute me on Instagram?"

He went quiet for a few seconds. "I've been really busy lately, so I haven't had the time to look at my phone."

Hearing that, I sneered inwardly. He had used that excuse a thousand times. But I didn't bother arguing. Instead, I just hung up.

I opened Instagram. My latest post from yesterday stared back at me.

"I ended things with Jared. Ten years, and this is where it ends."

The comments section had exploded, but I didn't reply to anyone.

I tapped into my direct messages. Paige had just sent me two photos. One was a picture of a pair of pearl earrings, and the other was a screenshot of her chat with Jared.

"I'm getting these earrings for Heather. Quick, tell me if they're pretty!"

"Anything you pick is bound to be pretty."

"So, does this count as a gift I helped you choose?"

"Yep. Tell me one time in the past ten years you didn't help me pick out every single gift I've ever given her."

Seeing this, I suddenly felt utterly pathetic.

All those gifts I thought Jared had put genuine thought into were just another woman doing the choosing for him. It was Paige who told him the things I thought he'd remembered about me. It was Paige who reminded him of the little details I thought he'd quietly noticed on his own.

Ten years together, and it turned out I was just a joke from start to finish.

Seeing that I hadn't replied, Paige sent another message.

"Do you like your wedding gift?"

I thought for a moment, then typed back, "I have a gift for the two of you as well."

After sending it, I deleted the chat. Then, I opened my contacts and found Austin Hubbard's name.

"You free? Let me take you out to eat."

He replied instantly, "You?"

"Yeah, me."

"That's a surprise. Aren't you supposed to be getting married?"

"We broke up."

I compiled all of Jared and Paige's chat logs and handed them over to Austin. He was a computer whiz, and there were some things only he could do.

It was nearly 11:00 pm by the time I finished dinner with Austin. He walked me back, but we unexpectedly ran into Jared—who had apparently come back early from his business trip—downstairs by my apartment building.

When he saw Austin behind me, Jared frowned slightly. "What are you doing with him?"

"We had dinner together."

Jared pressed his lips together, remaining silent as he took my hand and led me upstairs. The moment we stepped inside, he dropped my hand and demanded in a hostile tone, "What's the meaning of your Instagram post?"

Oh. So he only rushed back because he finally saw my Instagram post.

I shrugged, entirely indifferent. "It means exactly what it says."

"All because Paige wants to be your bridesmaid? I already told you she means well."

Instead of arguing, I turned and walked into the bedroom.

When I came back out, Jared was no longer in the living room; the sound of running water echoed from the bathroom. His suitcase sat wide open in the middle of the living room, haphazardly stuffed with clothes, documents, and several exquisitely wrapped gift boxes.

I opened the first one. It was a set of high-end skincare products.