We each sat in the yard with half a watermelon, scooping out bites with spoons in the shade of the old tree.
Lily spoke up out of nowhere.
"Does this feel familiar to you? Like we're back at Sunnyside."
She pulled up a photo on her phone and turned the screen toward me.
It was the two of us as kids, each holding half a watermelon, grinning at the camera without a care in the world.
There should have been a third person in that photo. Chad Harding. Lily had cropped him out.
Talking about the old days always made Lily laugh so hard she could barely breathe. But the moment Chad's name came up, her expression turned dark.
"That man has no conscience!"
"After everything you did for him, he cheated on you! You gave up your spot in college for him!"
"If I were you, I'd regret it until my dying day!"
If anyone asked whether I regretted it? Of course I had.
Chad and I had always been the top students at Sunnyside. I was always first, and he was always right behind me in second.
But the year of our college entrance exams, the group home's funding was slashed overnight. There was only enough to send one of us to college.
Chad had already resigned himself to dropping out and finding work.
No one expected what I did next. I left the essay portion of my exam blank.
I gave up my spot so Chad could go.
That opportunity carried him out of Sunnyside, out of the mountains, and further and further away from me.
Once I aged out with no school to attend, I couldn't stay at the group home anymore. I had to fend for myself.
Chad came and brought me to live near him. He rented a tiny room in the old neighborhood near campus for two hundred dollars a month.
Lying together in that cramped, damp little room, he held me tight. His eyes were full of tenderness.
"Jade, thank you."
"I'm going to work hard and give you a real home. I won't make you suffer like this forever."
I shook my head and held on to him a little tighter.
I didn't think it was suffering.
Even though I worked three jobs a day, from five in the morning until ten at night before I could rest.
Even though my hands were cracked and bleeding from washing dishes, and the soles of my feet were covered in blisters.
Even though my young shoulders had to carry the weight of two people's expenses.
Sometimes, when a customer gave me a hard time or a boss yelled at me, I wondered when it would ever end.
But then I'd come home and see Chad sitting under the desk lamp, bent over his books, and everything felt worth it again.
Seven years passed like that.
Finally, Chad finished graduate school and was offered a teaching position at the university. Our lives started to get better.
On his very first day of work, he placed his debit card in my hand and told me I wasn't allowed to take another job.
The card was still warm from being clutched in his palm the whole way home. I held it, and warmth spread through my chest.
After that, I hung up my aprons and uniforms and stepped into a different role, taking care of Chad's life and everything that came with it. The big things, like maintaining relationships with his colleagues and navigating faculty politics. The small things, like laying out which underwear he'd wear after his shower. All of it was me.
I played the part of a devoted wife, and in my heart, I held on to the hope that we'd build a real family together.
On my birthday, Chad set a small velvet box in front of me.
My heart pounded like it never had before. I silently rehearsed the words I do over and over in my head.
He opened the box slowly. Inside, resting on the satin lining, was a pair of stud earrings.
He put them on me, showering me with compliments about how beautiful they looked. He never once noticed the disappointment on my face.
I told myself it was fine. Chad's career wasn't stable yet. I just needed to give him a little more time.
