The Betrayed Chef's Sweet Revenge

strap. Rich had pointed it out in a shop window months ago, before things

ir fifteenth anniversary, which had passed in a cloud of unspoken tension just before he'd officially mov

en "too busy" with a "work crisis." She'd found out later he was on a weekend tri

mall with Lily, a rare Saturday off. They were pa

nica has a watch j

In the display case was a watch ide

her hand resting on Rich's arm. And on Veronica's wrist, catching the light, wa

d drained from her

turned. Amy could almost imagine t

a the anniversary gift

Lily asked, looking u

ckly in the opposite direction, away from the store, away from Rich

desecration of something deeply personal, a symbol of their shared histor

y went to her drawer. The watch box w

was moving his things out. A

was no going back, no salvaging anything. The casual cruelty of it,

in her lap. The fight was gone. All t