At 38, I had finally gotten engaged. It was something I’d nearly given up on, something I’d joked about with my friends over too many glasses of wine.
A group of four women laughing together | Source: Midjourney
“I’ll just get a dog instead,” I’d say, and they’d laugh because they knew the truth hidden behind my smile — that I wanted what they all had.
But then I met Will.
Will with his crooked smile and his kind eyes. Will, who made me believe that love wasn’t just for everyone else; it was for me, too.
A woman and a man in a bookstore | Source: Midjourney
“You know what I love about you?” he asked me the night he proposed.
We were sitting on the balcony of his apartment, looking out at the city lights.
“You never gave up on happiness. Even when you thought you’d never find me, you still lived your life with hope.”
A happy couple on a balcony | Source: Midjourney
I laughed, the diamond on my finger catching the moonlight. “That’s not true. I was ready to become a crazy dog lady.”
“No,” he said, his voice soft but certain. “You kept your heart open. That’s braver than most people ever are.”
Maybe he was right.
A man on a balcony smiling at someone | Source: Midjourney
Or maybe I was just lucky.
Either way, at 38, I had finally found my person.
The first people I told were Emma, Rachel, and Tara.
We’d been best friends since college, through everything: heartbreaks, career milestones, marriages, children.
A woman grinning while using her laptop | Source: Midjourney
We’d made a pact to stay close no matter what, and we had.
I called them on a four-way video chat, my hands shaking as I held up my ring finger to the camera.
“Oh, my God!” Rachel screamed, her curled hair bouncing as she jumped up and down. “It’s happening! It’s finally happening!”
A woman laughing while using her laptop | Source: Midjourney
“Show us again!” Emma demanded, her face taking up most of the screen as she leaned closer.
“I can’t believe it,” Tara said, wiping away tears. “Our Lucy is getting married.”
They hadn’t met Will yet. Between distance and life responsibilities, it just hadn’t happened.
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
But they knew everything about him — how we’d met at a secondhand bookstore, both reaching for the same dog-eared copy of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and how he’d taken me on our first date to a tiny restaurant where the chef knew his name.
“I can’t believe we haven’t met him yet!” Emma cried.
A woman using a laptop | Source: Pexels
“If only my vacation days hadn’t been canceled last month,” she sighed. “I could’ve been sitting here bragging about being the only one of us three to meet your dream man.”
Tara rolled her eyes. “Bragging aside, Em has a point. We haven’t even seen a good photo of him, Lucy. I appreciate you allowing us to admire his abs in that photo from the lake, but his face is all shadowy.”
I chuckled. “Alright, each of you will get a customized invitation with a photo of both of us. Deal?”
A happy woman | Source: Midjourney
I sent them the custom invitations soon afterward, and everything changed.
Instead of the expected squeals of joy and late-night calls to discuss wedding details, there was silence. Not one message, not one call. Just… nothing.
I tried not to worry. We were all busy. Emma with her law firm, Rachel with her three kids, Tara with her new promotion.
A mildly concerned woman in her living room | Source: Midjourney
But days passed, and then one by one, they started backing out.
Emma sent a text: “So sorry, Lucy. They just scheduled a work trip I can’t get out of.”
Rachel called, her voice strained: “I can’t find a babysitter for that weekend. I’ve tried everyone.”
Tara’s excuse came via email: “I’m going to be traveling nonstop that week to visit the branches on the East Coast. I’ll be there for the ceremony, but I’ll be too exhausted to attend the reception.”
A sad and thoughtful woman | Source: Midjourney
I read each message with growing confusion.
These were the same women who had flown across continents for each other’s weddings. No distance was too great then.
Emma had even delayed a court case to be at Rachel’s wedding.
A thoughtful woman in a living room | Source: Midjourney
Rachel had brought her colicky newborn to Tara’s ceremony.
Tara had left her husband’s hospital bedside to stand beside Emma as she said her vows.
But for me, they had excuses.
Then came the wedding registry slap in the face.
A woman looking forlornly at something | Source: Midjourney
Instead of celebrating with me, they pooled money for a $40 air fryer.
I wasn’t upset about the money. It was the principle.
We’d gone in on a weekend spa package for Tara’s wedding.
I’d given Rachel a high-end stroller and gifted Emma a set of expensive cookware she’d been eyeing.
A cookware set | Source: Pexels
For me? An air fryer.
I turned to the only person I could talk to: Will.
“Something’s wrong,” I said, showing him the messages on my phone. “They’re acting strange. All of them.”
A woman holding a cell phone | Source: Pexels
Will listened patiently as I vented, then, with a furrowed brow, he asked quietly, “Can you show me their pictures?”
Confused but curious, I pulled up a photo of the four of us from a reunion trip last year. We were on a boat, sunburned and laughing, drinks in hand.
But the moment he looked at it, his entire demeanor shifted. His face went pale, and his hands started trembling.
A troubled man | Source: Midjourney
“Will? What’s wrong?”
He stared at the photo, then whispered, “No… This can’t be right.”
I felt my stomach drop.
“What’s wrong?” I repeated, my voice higher.
A distressed woman speaking to someone | Source: Midjourney
He shook his head, eyes locked on the screen. “I know them.”
“What do you mean, you know them?”
“Twelve years ago,” he said slowly, “my father died in a car accident. A drunk driving incident.”
I knew this story.
A tense woman staring at someone | Source: Midjourney
He’d told me about the tragedy that had shattered his family. How his mother had never recovered, and how his younger sister had spiraled into depression.
How the driver and passengers had never faced real consequences.
“The driver paid a hefty settlement,” Will continued, his voice hollow. “The passengers — her friends — they never even got a slap on the wrist. They should’ve faced serious charges, but the driver was a lawyer and managed to slither out of it.”
A sad man in a living room | Source: Midjourney
My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat. “Will—”
“It’s them,” he said, pointing at the screen with a shaking finger. “Emma was driving. Rachel and Tara were in the car.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “That’s impossible.”
A woman staring in shock | Source: Midjourney
“Look at me,” Will said, his eyes filling with tears. “Do you think I would forget their faces? I sat in that courtroom every day for weeks. I watched them lie about how much they’d had to drink. I watched them cry crocodile tears while my mother fell apart.”
It made terrible sense.
When they saw Will’s picture, they panicked. They couldn’t face him… or me.
A deeply upset woman | Source: Midjourney
“They never told me… never said anything about being in a car accident, let alone facing charges.”
Will shrugged. “Maybe they have just enough heart to feel ashamed of what they did.”
With trembling hands, I messaged them in our group chat: “Is it true? Were you in the car that night? The accident that killed Will’s father?”
A woman typing on her cell phone | Source: Pexels
Hours passed. Then Emma replied: “How did you find out?”
Not a denial. Not even a question about what I was talking about.
She knew.
