It had been a month since my divorce from Michael was finalized. His decision, entirely unexpected. I didn\u2019t fight it\u2014sometimes people fall out of love. I let him go, and we hadn\u2019t seen each other since.<\/p>\n
But on an ordinary weekday, while picking up cat food for my clinic\u2019s newest rescue, a flash of white in the parking lot caught my eye. A pristine sports car, parked between two faded sedans. The sleek logo on the hood was unfamiliar, but before I could place it, the driver\u2019s door swung open, and my heart stopped.<\/p>\n
Michael stepped out, but he wasn\u2019t the man I remembered. The husband I knew wore khakis from clearance racks and whatever T-shirt he could find. He worked long hours as a grocery store cashier, barely making more than minimum wage.<\/p>\n
But this version of Michael? He was dressed in a designer suit that likely cost more than our old apartment\u2019s rent. A Rolex glinted on his wrist, his hair expertly styled. The transformation was jarring.<\/p>\n
I left my cart behind and walked outside. \u201cMichael?\u201d His name left my lips before I could stop it.<\/p>\n
He turned, and for a split second, something flickered in his eyes. Then it vanished, replaced by cold disdain.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey! Wow, congrats!\u201d I forced myself to be civil. \u201cThis must be the car you always dreamed about. Looks like you\u2019re doing well. Did you get a new job?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKatherine, we\u2019re not together anymore. This isn\u2019t your business,\u201d he said coolly, fixing his hair while walking past me. But then, he stopped at the grocery store entrance and reached into his pocket. \u201cOh, wait. Here. Think of it as my parting gift.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It had been a month since my divorce from Michael was finalized. His decision, entirely unexpected. I didn\u2019t fight it\u2014sometimes people fall out of love. I let him go, and we hadn\u2019t seen each other since. But on an ordinary weekday, while picking up cat food for my clinic\u2019s newest rescue, a flash of white […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timeshow.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}