The Glory ( Freen❣️Becky)

11

"Oh my God," Tee said. "My heart is breaking for you."

Freen nodded. "It was hard. And my heart broke that night. She was getting married."

"I assume you weren't invited to the wedding,"

Nam said.

"No. My social standing didn't merit an invitation by Mrs. Armstrong. Do you really think I would have gone if I had been invited?"

"Did you try to talk her out of it?" Tee asked. "You two were so in love. It's tragic.”

"The wheels were in motion. Becky had no say in it. She went back to school after the break, and I took the opportunity to visit my mother quite often. As soon as I graduated though, I knew Becky would be coming back home. Her mother had spent the whole spring planning and preparing for the big event," she said.

"That's when you started avoiding going Surat Thaini?" Nam asked.

"Yes. Once Becky returned, I never went back.

I talked to my mother about a week before the wedding, and she said Becky had 'pre-marital jitters,' I think is the term she used. Her moods went from unresponsive to hysterical bouts of crying."

"Oh God. Why didn't she just tell them no," Tee said. "It's such a waste."

"I almost broke down, I almost went to her. I knew she was suffering. I knew I could calm her. But in the end I couldn't bring myself to go. The emotional scar was going to be too much."

"Were you still working at Whole Foods?"

"Yeah. After I graduated, I stayed on. I loved it. Loved the atmosphere. And at that point, I still didn't have a clue as to what I wanted with my life. It would be another six or seven years before Sam retired from the military and we opened our first store. Back then, I was just trying to get over Becky and get on with my life. My career took a backseat to all of that."

"Did you ever have a steady girlfriend?" Nam asked. "One that you could commit to?"

"Have you ever had therapy for this situation?" Tee asked

Freen shook her head. "Are you suggesting I need it?"

"You're nearly thirty-eight years old and you've never been in a serious relationship. Your mother is a cancer patient, yet you avoid going to her aid because you still fear a woman you fell in love with when you were a teenager." She smiled quickly. "You think?"

"Once my mother retired and moved to her own place, I went to see her. I do go there still. I just don't stay for days at a time like Sam does."

"Yes. I don't think that means I need therapy," she said.

"Are you still in love with her?" Tee asked.

"No," she said quickly, but one look into their eyes told her they knew she was lying.

"I've convinced myself that I'm not," she amended. "That has nothing to do with me never being in a serious relationship. I've just never met anyone who...well, who I've fallen in love with."

"How long was it before you saw her again?"

"Nearly two years. It was October. My mother's birthday. I wanted to surprise her. Becky obviously didn't live there with her parents, so I thought I could make a quick trip down, take my mother out for a birthday dinner and leave early the next day. I was twenty-two."

***

"It's so good to see you," her mother said, squeezing her tightly in a hug. "I was beginning to think you would never return to Surat Thaini."