Chapter 2
Looking back now, maybe Ryder and I were always doomed from the start.
Back then, we never had a proposal, no wedding, didn’t even take engagement photos.
The year we graduated, his mom got diagnosed with cancer.
I was at the hospital again with flowers, visiting her for what felt like the hundredth time.
As I was heading out, he suddenly caught my arm in the hallway:
“Jessa, marry me.”
It came out of nowhere-like getting struck by lightning in the best possible way.
I was so terrified he’d take it back that I practically shouted yes.
The day we got our marriage license was just another Tuesday. City Hall was pretty quiet.
The clerk kept directing us for photos: “Groom, scoot a little closer.”
Now smile! You look like you’re at a funeral. Better.”
That official photo became our first picture together as a couple.
ust like that, I went from being his high school admirer to his actual wife.
Ryder had just launched his startup then.
So I wouldn’t be stuck doing long-distance, I turned down a solid teaching position upstate and started job hunting locally.
think he felt guilty about the sacrifice.
Because when we went ring shopping, he promised we’d have a real wedding once his company got off the ground.
wanted to be the supportive wife, so I picked a simple band that wouldn’t break the bank. Besides, the ring didn’t matter-I just wanted to know he actually
oved me back.
We rented this shoebox apartment in Queens afterward.
iny place, but we were happy. We’d grocery shop together on Sundays and stay up way too late talking about everything and nothing.
A year later, his mom passed.
le broke down in my arms for the first time ever: “Jess, I’ve got nobody left.”
tyder’s dad had bailed when he was little, and his mom had been one of those intense helicopter parents.
Everyone assumed he was just naturally distant, but I think he was actually starving for someone to care about him.
So I kept reassuring him: “You’ve got me. We’re family now.”
After the funeral, Ryder basically moved into his office, drowning his grief in eighteen-hour workdays.
He got so run-down that he ended up in the ER with a bleeding ulcer.
That’s when I started bringing him lunch every day.
And that’s the first time I met Vivian Torres.
