Chapter 7: The Dinner and the Divide

A bad feeling churned in my gut.

Sure enough, Natalie shook off my hand and walked over to Derek: "Tonight, Mrs. Murphy from next door is treating everyone to dinner. Soon we’ll all be living in condos, and neighbors won’t be as close as now, so we should get together while we still can."

With that, she left with Derek, not looking back.

I watched her walk away, heart pounding, and realized I had no idea who she was anymore.

I kicked a pebble into the parking lot and watched it bounce under a rusty Ford F-150. The sun was setting, turning everything gold and orange, but all I could feel was cold.

Just then, my mom called: "Son, your dad said he’s free on Sunday. Bring your girlfriend home for dinner so we can talk about the wedding."

Wedding? That might be off the table.

I tried to convince myself—maybe her parents were pressuring her, maybe she was just dazzled by money. Maybe she’d snap out of it in a few days.

But as days passed, Natalie only grew more distant. Calls went unanswered, texts took hours to get a reply. After work, she always said she was busy and disappeared. I barely saw her.

Just as I was feeling low, my childhood friend Tyler messaged me:

[Bro, I don’t know if I should tell you this.]

Annoyed, I shot back: [Spit it out.]

Your little angel is now flirting with a big, burly guy at my friend’s coffee shop.

I exploded, anger boiling over: [Address.]

Tyler sent a voice message, a little too gleeful: [Don’t worry, I’ll record the whole thing for you. Let’s see if this cures your heartbreak.]