Five Years and Still Second Best

"What's there to mean, Nora? Are you just looking for a fight?"

My throat closed up.

On the other end, I heard Skylar's soft, soothing murmur.

"Austin, don't be upset. Let me talk to Nora."

Austin had me on speaker.

Skylar had heard everything.

"Nora, I didn't mean anything by it. The gown got changed because Austin thought your taste wasn't great, so he asked me to take a look."

"He just wanted you to look beautiful on your wedding day. There's no need to throw a tantrum and make things hard for him."

Her tone was even, unhurried.

"As for the dates being the same, it's just a little promise, that's all."

"And there are only so many good dates to get married on. It's no surprise two would overlap."

"Austin and I grew up together. I've known him eighteen years."

"You really don't need to be jealous of me. I'll be blunt—if anything were ever going to happen between Austin and me, you wouldn't be the one marrying him."

Eighteen years.

Their eighteen years had bled right through my five.

Austin always called her Sky. He always called me Nora.

Five years, nine fights, and every single time Austin went and told her.

She was his strategist. She was also the thing that calmed him down.

I'd received thirty-four gifts from Austin over the years.

Half of them Skylar had picked. The other half he'd chosen himself, then run past her for approval.

I stayed quiet for three seconds, then I laughed.

"You're right."

Before Skylar could say anything else, I hung up.

I took an Uber home, dragged out my suitcase, and started packing.

Five years together, and in the end all of it fit into one small suitcase.

In an hour, I was done.

Only then did something feel wrong.

Snowball always shadowed me, but I'd been back a while now and hadn't seen her once.

I shot to my feet and searched the whole apartment.

Nothing. Snowball was gone.

A cold went through me, and I couldn't stop shaking.

Snowball was the cat my mother bought me before she died.

After Mom was gone, Snowball stayed in her place, beside me.

Twelve whole years.

Through the lowest, hardest stretches of my life, she'd been right there with me.

The doors and windows were all shut tight. How could she have gotten out?

My thoughts scattered, and without thinking I called Austin.

After a long stretch of ringing, he picked up, plainly irritated.

"Nora, what is it now?"

My voice caught, and the words came out a mess.

"She—Snowball… Snowball's gone…"

On his end, out of nowhere, Skylar shrieked.

The call cut off.

Austin had hung up on me.

I gripped the phone, and my reason came back to me, piece by piece.

I pulled up the home security footage and stared at the screen.

Snowball had still been here this morning.

When I left, she'd been curled obediently on the couch, watching the door for me.

After I was gone, she hopped down and sat sweetly by the door.

Snowball was waiting for me.

Ten minutes later, Skylar pushed the door open and came in.

She'd forgotten her bag, and she touched up her makeup in front of the full-length mirror.

The front door stayed wide open the whole time, and Snowball strolled right out.

Skylar never noticed.

With shaking hands, I called her.

One ring, then nothing.

She'd hung up on me.

So I called Austin instead.

The second it connected, I bit out each word.

"Put Skylar on the phone."

"That bug scared me half to death just now, Austin. Thank god you were here… the iced latte's done? Nobody makes it like you do…"

"Nora? What is it?"

"Snowball's gone. You came back later and left the door open, and she got out."

"And how is that my problem?"

Skylar's voice climbed higher.

"She was perfectly fine at home when I left."

"There was no cat outside, none in the elevator either. Nora, don't go pinning this on me."