ARE YOU MARRIED?

Yeah," I nodded as Richard pulled the car back onto the road.

"Are you married?" I blurted out, the words escaping my lips before I could even think twice. The car was quiet, aside from the sound of the engine humming. Anthony looked at me in shock, his eyes darting back and forth between me and the road ahead. For a moment, I thought that maybe I had caught him red-handed in some sort of scandalous affair, but then he spoke.

"No…" he said, his voice low and guarded, “but I was almost married."

The way he said it made my heart ache for him. There was so much pain in his voice, so much hurt that he was clearly trying to hide. I could feel the tension in the car building like a rubber band stretched too tightly.

"She left," he added, his jaw clenching. I could see how much the memory hurt him, how much he must have been struggling to deal with the aftermath. I wondered what type of woman could have left someone like him. He seemed like the kind of person who would be an amazing partner,