The 39th Vow: Goodbye, Mr. Ex!

almost d

r hand, telling herself she had no reason to. The certificate was in her bag. She cou

n with that photo. Her ske

put it on paper instead of screaming. Sleeves that moved like water. A neck

ess, because that was what D

les were far apart, the lights were low, and the

ck corner, on the same side of the booth.

ouse you've lived in for years. She had always no

ate," Dom

ear

tablecloth, eyes wide and shining. "Y

't hat

needed something to hold on to, and she

it up to you. I

and Seraphina's stomach dropped. A cream-colored corner. A spiral bindin

ing it on the table like a trophy. "Dom, did y

c was buttering a rol

ven being mean. He honestly thought of her

she said. "Plea

is gown, with the open back. It looks a lot like my cousin's spring collection. She's been stuck on

N

aphina meant. The woman at

t was. Her eyes didn't. They went fla

N

sin, and it's not for you." Seraphin

raphina. It's a not

a car, with her face on fire. Not the soup. The sigh. That tired l

n sto

und. The waiter had just set down the lobster bisque, still steaming in a wide whit

" she said, her voice shaking. "Wh

tipped

d it. She shot up out of the chair and cracked her knee on the table. Her hands flew to her face and found skin that didn't fee

via

t he was looking at her. His face had gone white. His hand ca

id, to Vivian. "You coul

ent over the table with tears running into the

a hand on

can't

cker we

ick gasp, a sag against his arm, her mouth open like air was something she ha

, and Seraphina watched him slide into the routine he'd had eight years to perfect

out thin and wet, much smalle

her over Vi

wel. Whole tables were staring now. Dominic's eyes swept the roo

that bad

ie, a verdict. A man checking a bill

cab home. I have to get her

wheezed, "do

. I'm ri

between the tables, Vivian's pink skirt hanging over his arm, her head resting on his shoul

hey we

nodding. She was being very polite about it. The part of her that had always been

ge was soaked through, the cover swollen and stained, and a page had torn halfway

heek to her collarbone was angry red and glossy, beginning to blister under the

ight for five years. And he had looke

her, and it wasn't the polite one. It

idn't

t ten past ten. The house was dark, like ever

to the quiet. Her face throbbed in time with her p

uzzed on th

rible. I'm sending her over to apologi

read it th

se with nobody else in it, while Seraphina's

a car d

ho knew exactly where she was go

rive under the porch light, alone, the pink dress without a mark on it, her brea

ke

he brass lock. The one Seraphina had

traight through the glass at Seraphina's face

ark. Twenty-one steps. She had counted them once,

orbell