Miles didn't even stop to think. "Then let's stay at Georgia's tonight. I'll sleep on the floor."

Then he added one more thing.

It was meant for me.

"Georgia, let Lesley take the master bedroom. She's timid. A bigger room with more light helps her sleep."

I stood at the entrance of the theater.

Cold air slid down my collar.

The fever from yesterday felt like it was creeping back.

The two of them were already walking toward the parking lot, side by side.

Not one of them looked back at me.

I stood there a long time, until my phone buzzed.

It was a message from Greg James, the senior Lesley had been crushing on for six years.

It was already the twentieth one.

"Georgia, anything you want me to bring back from over here lately? I'm coming home next week."

He asked me this every so often.

I'd never once replied.

This time, I did.

"Vinyl records. And perfume."

The records were what I wanted.

The perfume was what Lesley liked.

I wanted to give the two of them one more chance.

Miles must have picked up on how cold I'd gone.

Over the next few days, he suddenly turned attentive.

He warmed milk in the morning, gave me a goodbye kiss before heading out, and never came home in the evening without a bouquet.

But his phone never stopped chiming with messages.

The person sending them was always Lesley.

The fruit cake he brought home after work was the flavor Lesley had told him about.

The sleep music he played at night came from a playlist Lesley had sent him.

Behind every attempt he made to please me stood Lesley.

That night, he was staring at his phone again, typing, a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Lesley says we should take you camping this weekend to relax."

I set down my book and looked at him.

"Miles, you've been with me for seven years."

"Do you not understand even a little about me on your own?"

His mouth opened, then closed. He looked flustered.

"Georgia, I just get scared of doing something wrong, saying something wrong, and making you even angrier…"

The words jammed in my chest. I didn't know what to say.

That evening Miles cooked a whole table of dishes, all the things I loved.

He sat down across from me and smiled, a little nervous. "I remembered all of these myself. I didn't ask anyone."

I'd just lifted a bite when my phone rang.

It was Lesley.

"Georgia! My pipe burst, there's water all over the living room, what do I do?"

Before I could even speak, Miles had already set down his bowl and stood up.

"I'll be quick. You eat first, don't wait for me."

I sat at the table alone.

Chopsticks in hand, unable to swallow a thing.

After a while Miles's video call came through.

It was a habit of his.

Every time he went to Lesley's alone, he'd keep me on video the whole time to report in.

But I watched Miles walk in, not a single question, and find the slippers like he'd done it a hundred times, changing into them.

Then he dug out the toolbox at Lesley's place.

That faint warmth in my chest cooled, bit by bit.

After he fixed it, he packed up the tools, muttering, "How many times have I told you, don't crank the water heater up so high, the pipe will burst, and you just won't listen."

Lesley leaned in toward the camera to tattle on him. "Georgia, look at him, snapping at me again!"

I didn't say anything. I hung up.

An hour later, Miles came back. But Lesley was right behind him.

Lesley looped her arm through mine and shoved Miles toward the guest room. "Tonight I'm sleeping with Georgia. Don't come bother us."

Miles raised his hands in surrender and went to the guest room.

The lights off, Lesley curled her arms around mine, the same as when we'd squeezed together at ten years old.

"Georgia, Miles is planning to propose to you." Her tone was thrilled.

"He's already looking at rings, so he asked me to help him decide. What kind do you want? I'll go vet it for you. You deserve a perfect proposal."

I was quiet for a long time.

"I thought it was supposed to be a surprise."

Lesley smiled. "The time and place will definitely be a surprise. I just don't want you to end up with any regrets. What if he picks something you don't like?"

It sounded reasonable. There wasn't a single line I could find fault with.

But that vague discomfort sat lodged in my throat.

It wouldn't go up, and it wouldn't go down.

"Lesley."

"Hmm?"

"Do you like Miles?"

Her body stiffened.

"Georgia, how could you think that? I'm absolutely not that kind of person. I—"

A knock came at the door.

Miles's voice carried through the panel. "Lesley, I've got good news. Greg James's coming back next week."

Lesley froze for two seconds. Then she yanked the door open and rushed out.

"Are you serious? Who told you that?"

In the living room, her voice and Miles's grew farther away, fainter.

They dissolved into broken murmurs and laughter.

It went on until dawn.

And the chat window between me and Greg stayed lit all night too.

The day Greg came back, Miles bailed on the dinner where both sets of parents were supposed to meet.

I sat in the hotel's private room for half an hour before I got a message from him.

When I called, the airport announcements were blaring on his end.

"Lesley gets nervous, so I came to give her some courage."

"I want to hurry up and find her someone, so she stops coming around and disturbing us."

His tone was light.

"As for the dinner, just explain it to my parents and yours."

Just explain it.

Looking at the four older people across from me, their faces drawn, anything I said felt humiliating.

A dinner with no leading man broke up quickly, on a sour note.

That evening, for Lesley's birthday party, Miles called me five hours ahead of time to remind me not to forget.

When I got to the restaurant, the private room was decorated with unusual care.

It was the starry-sky theme I'd told Miles three months ago that I wanted for my proposal.

Greg arrived. Lesley, in an evening gown, walked toward him, her face uneasy.

I saw Miles, his eyes glued to Lesley, not a sip of his wine touched.

Greg bent down to clink glasses with Lesley, and Lesley laughed.

The wineglass in Miles's hand shattered.

Watching Miles lose his composure like that, I suddenly understood. None of my discomfort had been my imagination.

It was Miles's heart, which had crossed the line long ago, hidden inside all that so-called caring.

I opened the cloud drive. Inside was the dashcam footage from Miles's car.

I found the day Miles said he was driving Lesley home.

In the recording, Lesley's voice rose up. "Do you really… want to marry Georgia?"

After a long silence, Miles finally spoke. "I should marry her."

Should.

Not want to.

Lesley let out a soft laugh. "Then go ahead and marry her. The way things are now is pretty good. Some things are better left unsaid."

"The three of us will be together for the rest of our lives."

The string inside me snapped clean through.

Just then, Greg crossed past Lesley and came toward me. "Georgia, long time no see."

"Here's that out-of-print vinyl record you wanted."

Lesley appeared at my side at once. "Greg, Georgia has a boyfriend. They're almost getting married."

I glanced down at her wrist.

A silver bracelet, the same style as the one on mine.

Miles had bought it.

Except hers, in color and style, looked far more like a matching couple's piece with Miles's.

Lesley leaned in close, pleading in a low voice. "Georgia, Greg just gave me a bottle of my favorite perfume as a gift."

"Don't take Greg's gift. Let today be special, just for me, okay?"

"You know how I've felt about him all these years."

Yes. I knew.

Otherwise I would never have spent all those years leaving Greg's messages unanswered.

But things were different now.

I pushed Lesley's hand off my arm and took the bag from Greg.

"I don't have a boyfriend. We've already broken up."

Lesley and Miles cried out at the same time. "Georgia, what are you saying?"

This time Miles didn't have the silent, knowing glance to exchange with Lesley.

His voice was pure panic. "Georgia, when did we break up?"

"Just now."

I didn't wait for him to react. I turned back around and took Greg's hand.