Chapter 4: Unwelcome Generosity

Seeing me silent in the back seat, Caleb twisted in his chair to ask, “Rachel, why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Rachel, are you too cold to talk?” Maddie tilted her head toward me, wide-eyed and faux-concerned. “I checked the weather on the drive over—it’s below freezing with rain. It’s brutal. Don’t catch a cold, or I’ll feel terrible.”

Just as she finished, I sneezed—a wet, embarrassing sneeze that echoed in the quiet car.

“You really are cold?” Caleb gave me a look in the rearview mirror, his tone annoyingly parental. “Your immune system’s always so weak. One draft and you’re sick. I keep telling you—if you got up and ran with me in the morning, you’d be tougher, but you never want to.”

“I’ve got vitamin C!” Maddie piped up, digging through her designer tote and pulling out a fancy bottle. “Here, Caleb bought this for me—says it’s the good stuff for your immune system. Rachel, take a couple.”

My hands clenched in my lap as I eyed the vitamins. A flash of bitterness twisted in my chest: When was the last time Caleb bought me anything nice? I remembered the bargain-brand vitamins he’d picked up for me at Walgreens, the way he’d laughed at the idea of spending extra for something imported. Meanwhile, Maddie gets the French label and gold foil. My gaze flicked to her designer tote and I felt a sting of comparison—her bag alone probably cost more than my entire work wardrobe.

Caleb’s always been a health freak—morning runs, protein smoothies, you name it. When we first moved to this neighborhood, he’d drag me out of bed to jog with him before work, but I always bailed for more sleep. Eventually, he stopped asking.

Every change of season, I’d catch colds like clockwork, so Caleb always kept a bottle of vitamin C on hand for me.

A few days ago, I finished the last of the cheap generic vitamins he’d bought from Walgreens.

Expressionless, I eyed the designer bottle Maddie held out—something imported, with a label in French and gold foil on the cap.

The vitamins Caleb bought for me were always the bargain brand—two for one deals from the corner drugstore. I’d once joked they were practically orange-flavored sawdust, but he’d said the fancy ones were a rip-off for suckers.

Yet here he was, springing for the real deal for Maddie. So, my boyfriend’s willing to play the sucker for someone else, huh?