On the night of our wedding, friends came over for the traditional newlywed party games.
The very first round required the bride and groom to kiss for three minutes.
But my husband, Neil Sanchez, grabbed his secretary by the arm and kissed her without a second's hesitation.
They kissed for a full three minutes. When they finally pulled apart, a thin string of saliva still connected their lips.
The smiles around the room froze. Every pair of eyes shifted to me, stiff with awkwardness.
Neil wiped the moisture from the corner of Shirley Cobb's mouth with his thumb, his expression utterly unbothered.
"The girl's shy. She'd never handle something like this in the future, so I figured I'd help her get some practice ahead of time."
He tossed a stack of cash onto the table in front of me. Twenty thousand dollars.
"That enough? Take the money and settle down. Don't act like you've been so terribly wronged."
"All I did was swap out the game partner. I still went through with the whole wedding for you. You should be grateful."
Shirley nestled into his arms, coy and blushing, her eyes brimming with adoration.
I nodded calmly, slid my wedding ring off, and dropped it onto the pile of bills.
"Mr. Sanchez is too funny. Of course I'm not upset."
"After all, I was planning to swap out the man on my marriage certificate too."
——
Silence.
The room went so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Neil smashed the ashtray beside him. Glass shattered across the nightstand, and his expression turned black as a storm cloud.
"Kathryn Henson, it was just a game partner swap. Do you really have to be this petty about it?"
"Fine. Here's another ten grand. Take back what you just said and stop ruining the mood for everyone."
Like he was scolding a child who didn't know her place.
I looked at that face, the one that used to make my heart race, and felt nothing but revulsion rise in its place.
"I think I made myself perfectly clear. We never filed for a marriage license anyway, so consider us done."
"Oh, and think of tonight's wedding as my gift to you, Mr. Sanchez. A little practice run for the real thing. No need to thank me."
The temperature in the room plummeted.
Shirley suddenly looped her arm through mine, all smiles.
"Don't be mad, Kathy. Mr. Sanchez was just worried I wouldn't know what to do at my own wedding someday, so he gave me a little preview."
"Tell you what. For the next game, I'll let you have the bride's role back."
I frowned. That word, let, scraped against my nerves like a nail on glass.
Before I could agree or refuse, Shirley was already reaching into the game box, pulling out a slip of paper, and reading it aloud.
"The bride must kneel before the groom and bark like a dog ten times, to demonstrate her absolute loyalty to her husband."
A beat of stunned silence. Then murmurs rippled through the group.
"Didn't we agree not to put any humiliating ones in there? Who wrote that?"
"Not me..."
"Wasn't me either..."
Shirley shot them an exasperated glare.
"Oh, hush. You all think it's humiliating, but maybe Kathy here thinks it's a treat."
"I mean, a gold digger like her just loves groveling to keep a man happy. Me? I could never. I have too much self-respect." She sighed theatrically.
Her gaze locked onto mine, a taunting smile curving her lips.
"Well, Kathy? You wanted to play games with Mr. Sanchez so badly, didn't you?"
"Go on then. Get on your knees and bark. Who knows, maybe if he's pleased enough, he'll toss you another twenty grand. Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity like that."
Neil sat through all of it without saying a word.
My eyes drifted to the red silk quilt beneath him, the one I'd chosen with such care. I hadn't even sat on it yet.
But their kiss had already crushed it into wrinkles.
Tradition said the wedding quilt had to be sat on first by the newlyweds together. A blessing for a happy marriage.
Just days ago, I'd been imagining it: wedding night, the two of us beneath that quilt, planning our future.
How unnecessary that all seemed now.
I shoved Shirley's arm away, cold and deliberate, and let a razor-thin smile cross my face.
"Miss Cobb, you're really too modest. The way you were flicking that tongue around just now? You've got every dog in town beat when it comes to licking. Doesn't seem like you need the practice at all."
