Today he hadn't cared about me at all.
And I was the one who was sicker.
If Sarah mattered more to him, then fine. I wouldn't fight for the spot.
While Samuel was busy nursing Sarah, I downed a packet of cold medicine and went out to sign the investment agreement with Duane.
Once the arrow leaves the bow, there's no calling it back.
"You're sure you don't want the wedding house? You'd rather put the money into business with me?"
Duane held out a pen and asked me seriously.
"Yes."
I gave a small nod. "He has what he's chasing. I have what I'm choosing."
Signed.
Thumbprint pressed.
All in one clean motion.
I trusted Duane. We'd been classmates for as long as I could remember.
More than that, he was the investment prodigy even our professors had praised.
Back in college he'd built a campus food-delivery platform and opened two little shops, and made his first pot of money off it.
The truth was, he'd tried to bring me in as a partner more than once.
But I always turned him down, because I wanted to keep money in reserve to support Samuel.
Once the agreement was signed, Duane said to me, "I'll drive you to the clinic."
"You've been the same since you were a kid. Catch a cold or a fever, and you need an IV, or you'll run hot for a week."
Samuel knew all of that too.
He'd just forgotten.
He'd also forgotten why I dragged myself to work sick every time. I was trying to put a little more away, in case his company ever went under.
So we wouldn't end up out on the street.
That afternoon, Duane took me to look at a few places.
I liked one of them, and Duane paid and signed the lease on the spot, calling it staff housing.
At the same time he handed me another agreement. He wanted me to be VP of the company.
I didn't hesitate. I said yes.
Early evening.
I'd just reached my front door when my dad called out of nowhere.
"Sweetheart."
"Your mom and I got a flight cancellation notice. Is this one of those scam texts?"
Last week Samuel and I had settled on a resale house and planned to buy it this week, exactly so I could bring my parents over to stay for a while.
I walked them through sending me a screenshot.
It really was the airline's number.
Just to be sure I hadn't gotten it wrong, I called the airline myself. The answer was the same: the tickets had been canceled.
I walked in the door frowning, and Sarah came rushing over.
"Beth."
"Sam just booked flights for my mom and dad. They'll be here tomorrow night, so why don't you reserve a restaurant and we can all have dinner together."
The word flights snagged on every raw nerve I had.
I turned toward Samuel, who was slicing fruit in the kitchen. "So that's your reason for canceling my parents' tickets?"
"Don't blow it up like that."
Samuel sighed and came out carrying the fruit plate. "It's not easy for Sarah's parents to make the trip, so I wanted them to be able to stay a while."
"As for your parents, they've lived in the country their whole lives. They'd never be comfortable in the city. They can just come on the wedding day."
"And you know how things are with my company. Sarah's family is closer, so the flights save a few hundred. It's the smart call!"
Watching him wear that look, like he'd thought it all through so carefully, my chest went tight, and I hated that I'd ever fallen for someone this worthless.
My parents were open-minded people. They knew starting a company was hard for Samuel, so they agreed to ask for no bride price. Instead they handed over a hundred thousand to help with the down payment.
How much produce, how much wheat did they have to grow to save a hundred thousand?
They just wanted to come see their daughter and son-in-law.
It's not easy for Sarah's parents to make the trip.
And it was easy for mine?
Samuel knew all of it, and he still put Sarah's parents first.
So this was what it meant to love the man and everything around him too.
