On the day we were supposed to get our marriage license, I waited for Ryan in the lobby of the county clerk's office for forty minutes. He didn't show up. Instead, my best friend Jessica posted her brand-new marriage certificate on social media. The caption was just one sentence: "Got the big life event sorted out first, for the kid's sake." In the photo, she was leaning against Ryan's shoulder. They were both wearing white dress shirts. The navy blue tie he was wearing was the exact one I had ironed for him this morning. I stared at the photo for a few seconds, then called him. No one answered the first time. He picked up on the second try. "Nora, where are you?" "The registration office." "Go home first. I'll explain everything to you tonight." "You got married?" "...Yeah." I looked down at the document folder in my hands. My driver's license, the form with my Social Security Number, and the gold ring my mom left me were all inside. "With Jessica?" "Nora, please don't make a scene over the phone." I let out a laugh. "I asked you if it was her." He lowered his voice. "Yes. But it's just a piece of paper." "Leo is starting elementary school this year, and there are only three days left for enrollment. The school district near Jessica's ex-husband's place is completely hopeless, and my condo is zoned for Lincoln Elementary—public schools only care about the actual residential address. So she and I are getting a license for a year. Once he's enrolled at Lincoln, we'll get a divorce." "Our wedding will proceed as planned." The ticket machine behind me beeped. "Number B107, please proceed to Window Three." That was our number. I pulled the appointment slip out of the folder. "So before getting a license with me, you got one with her." "It's just one day early." "Then what about me?" Ryan was clearly getting impatient. "What do you mean, what about you? You're still my fiancée." "The banquet isn't canceled, and the wedding photos aren't canceled. All our friends and family have already been notified. It would look terrible to change things at the last minute." "Just play along for a year, okay?" I didn't say anything. He probably thought I was crying, because his tone softened a bit. "Nora, I'm not doing this for Jessica. It's for the kid." "Leo has called you Aunt Nora for six years. Can you really bear to see him go to some messy, terrible elementary school?" "You've always been the most reasonable." Right before the call ended, I heard Jessica ask in the background: "Is she mad?" Ryan said: "It's fine, she'll get over it in a minute." I pulled the phone away from my ear. The clerk at Window Three called out B107 again. I walked over and handed the appointment slip through the glass. "Please cancel this for me." The clerk glanced at it. "Cancel the appointment for both parties?" "Yes." "Are you sure?" "I'm sure." She clicked her mouse twice. The printer spat out a cancellation receipt. I folded it up and stuffed it into my folder. My phone rang again. This time it was my brother, Matt. "Where are you? Ryan said you're still at the registration office?" "Yeah." "Don't do anything out of spite." My footsteps paused. "You knew?" He coughed. "I only found out last night." "What time?" "Does that matter?" "What time?" "...A little after nine." I looked at my reflection in the office's glass doors. A little after nine last night, I was in his kitchen packing the wedding favor bags for tomorrow—they were meant for the bridesmaids and our family and friends. My brother was sitting in the living room eating watermelon. Ryan's mom even told me to pack two extra boxes, saying I should give one to the bridesmaids if I ran into them. So even then, they already knew I wouldn't be getting my marriage license today. "Why didn't you tell me?" "What would be the point of telling you? You would have completely flipped out on the spot." Matt sighed. "Nora, Leo only gets one shot at starting school. You and Ryan have been together for eight years, what's another year?" "Besides, it's not easy for Jessica to raise a kid on her own. We should help her out if we can." The wind caught a corner of the cancellation receipt in my hand. "Matt." "Yeah?" "The year I applied for college, when you took my college savings to pay for your car crash, you said the exact same thing." The line went dead silent. I kept walking toward the parking lot. "You said you just needed me to yield this one time." "Then when you got married and were short $12,000 for the down payment, you also said it was just this one time." "Last year when you had an inventory backlog at your store, I put $16,000 on my credit card for you, and you said it would be the last time." "Now, even when it comes to my own marriage, I'm supposed to let someone else go first." "Nora, why are you bringing up all that ancient history?" "No reason." I pulled my car door open. "I just suddenly realized that you all share the exact same mindset." "You all know I'll be the one to back down." I hung up. The inside of the car was baking hot. Two boxes of undelivered wedding favors sat on the passenger seat. I unwrapped a piece of candy, the wrapper sticking to my fingertip. My phone screen lit up. The HR department from my company sent a final confirmation: "New Branch Prep Director, confirm by 6:00 PM today. Overdue will be considered a forfeiture, and the position will go to the second candidate." I had turned this position down twice before. The first time was last year. Ryan said he had just been promoted to regional manager and couldn't relocate. The second time was three months ago. The wedding date was set, and he held the hotel contract in his hand, saying: "Let's wait until after the wedding to deal with all that. The new branch isn't going anywhere." This time, HR was only giving me until six o'clock today. I checked the time. It was 4:17 PM. I tapped the reply box. "I accept." They replied almost instantly: "Received. Report to work next Monday. Do you want to keep the company apartment?" I typed two words. "Keep it." Sent. Two minutes later, a profile picture that hadn't lit up in a long time popped onto my screen. Adrian. "Finally willing to come over?" I stared at it for a long time. Then I replied: "It's just a job. Don't flatter yourself." He sent a smiley face. "Alright. The office is waiting for you." I placed my phone face down on the dashboard. The candy from the favor bag was melting in my mouth, tasting a little too sickeningly sweet. I spit the remaining half into a tissue and started the engine. ***