Romance

Married Three Years, but I

by Vesper Vale

Every time I go out with my wife of three years, Jillian Luke, and my best friend, Shawn Lynch, the two of them get mistaken for a couple.At the mall, a sales clerk hands them a complimentary gift for couples. At a restaurant, the server asks if they'd like to join a couples' event.On trips, strangers tell them what a good match they are, then shove a phone into my hands and ask me to take their picture.At first, I do feel awkward about it.Jillian never explains. Every time, Shawn is the one who smooths things over with a smile. "Maybe the two of us just look a little like a couple. Don't overthink it."He says it so lightly that I tell myself, again and again, not to take it to heart.This goes on until Thanksgiving dinner, where Jillian says she'll officially take me to meet her parents.I've spent three whole months preparing.But the moment we walk in the door, Jillian's mom, Carol Simpson, grabs hold of Shawn, smiling from ear to ear. "Look at these two, everyone. They look so much like a married couple."The relatives join in on the teasing. "Just how many times have Jillian and Shawn kissed? They look more alike every day."The whole room is laughing. I stand where I am and look at Jillian.All she does is reach out and straighten Shawn's slightly crooked tie. She doesn't object, and she doesn't deny it.At that moment, I finally understand that it's not that she can't be bothered to explain. It's that in her heart, the one she truly wants to marry has never been me.

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