I Brought a Coworker as My Date to My Ex’s Wedding, and One Comment From Him Wiped the Smile Off My Ex’s Face
of the library during my lunch break, eating crackers out of the sleeve because I couldn’t face the teachers’ lounge. I was reading something on my phone from my lawyer. And I started crying. Just quietly. I couldn’t stop.
Somebody knocked on the door.
It was Edward. He was holding a stack of returned books.
He looked at me. At my face.
He didn’t say, “Are you okay?” He didn’t say, “What’s wrong?”
He just set the books down on the cart, pulled out the other chair, sat down across from me, and said, “Do you want me to stay or go?”
I didn’t know what to say.
“Stay,” I said finally.
So he stayed. He didn’t say anything for a while. He just sat there while I cried.
When I was done, he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. A real cloth handkerchief, gray,
