“God, I Hope Never. I’d Rather Die Than Marry Him,” She Said After Her Friend Jokingly Asked When I’d Propose. I Smiled, Finished My Drink, And Left The Bar. She Called An Hour Later, Voice Shaking, Asking Why I Left. I Said, “Just Saving You From A Fate Worse Than Death,” And Hung Up.

Part 3

Rachel recovered quickly, which told me she had expected the lie to fail eventually and had prepared a secondary defense.

“I only did that because I felt trapped,” she said.

“By what?”

“By everyone expecting us to get married.”

“I never pressured you.”

“You didn’t have to. You were always there, being perfect, making me feel guilty for not being ready.”

I stared at her.

“So my crime was loving you consistently?”

She flinched, then hardened.

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what you meant.”

Tears appeared.

“I love you. I just panic.”

“Panic doesn’t make you humiliate someone in public as an experiment.”

She looked past me into the apartment. Her eyes found the empty space on the kitchen table where the ring had been the night before. She did not know what had sat there, but maybe she sensed the absence.

“What did you do today?” she asked.

“I returned the ring.”

Her mouth opened.

For the first time since I met her, Rachel had nothing clever to say.

“The ring?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“You were going to propose?”

“Last night.”

She covered her mouth. Tears spilled over fast and real.

“No,” she said.

“No, no, no.”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know.”

“That’s the point. You did not need to know there was a ring to treat me with basic respect.”

She stepped backward like the hallway had become unstable.

“Can you get it back?”

“No.”

“But maybe—”

“No.”

The word was small but final.

Over the next week, Rachel tried everything. Apologies. Letters. Voice notes. A playlist, which was so absurdly Rachel that I almost smiled. She said she was afraid of marriage because her parents had been miserable. She said she sabotaged good things before they could disappoint her. She said I was the safest person she had ever known and that safety scared her.

I believed all of it.

I also believed myself when I said I was done.