A wedding invitation. Fancy curly font. Golden embossing. The names of the bride and groom dance across your eyes, merging into one poisonous, dazzling blot: Maxim and Alisa… My ex-husband and my best friend are getting married. My heart makes an impossible somersault in my chest and drops somewhere deep—right to my heels.
My fingers reach into the envelope for something else. A small note, deliberately tucked in carelessly—made of the same thick paper. A familiar, sprawling handwriting of my ex-husband.
I read slowly, and each letter digs into my brain like a splinter: “Sasha, I’ll be glad to see you. I hope everything has worked out for you, too.”
Having received a wedding invitation from a partygoer ex-husband and my best friend, I decide to show up and congratulate them. With fireworks!