Chapter 42

Skylar parked along the road and hastily opened Instagram on her phone, checking her main feed. Caleb's latest post—a selfie of him pretending to look cool on the bus to work—appeared first. Then, she saw Christopher's post: three pictures of him and her. One was from high school, another from college, and the last from long before Skylar's "rebirth." The pictures portrayed them as an affectionate couple, but to Skylar, they were jarring. She wished she could have returned to high school and avoided any relationship with Christopher.

She looked at the caption, shocked. Christopher had written a long paragraph about their deep feelings, declaring his desire to spend his life with her and asking his social media friends to witness his proclamation. He wrote, "God may punish me however severely if I ever cheat on Skylar." He then announced his plan to propose and start a family. With their many mutual friends, likes and congratulations quickly flooded the post.

Skylar was still on the phone with Charles, who guessed she'd finished reading Christopher's post.

"You're done looking at it, right, Skye? Don't you think he's mentally deranged? Steven agrees with me—he's always been odd, always peacocking. He's a scumbag!"

"I'll resolve this matter and make a clarifying post about our breakup," Skylar replied calmly. "By the way, is everything going well at work these days, Charles?"

Having already seen Christopher's true nature, risking her social media friendships wasn't a big deal.

"Don't worry about me," Charles chuckled. "I've been acting out scenes these past two days. I'm even standing in for the male lead today! Rest easy. I'll work hard, and maybe someday I can bring home the best male lead award!" He believed in daring to dream, knowing that dreams could come true.

Skylar, aware of Charles's optimism, praised him generously. "You've always had great acting skills! You're better than any of the male actors I've seen!"

Charles burst out laughing. After they ended their call, Skylar posted on social media, but prevented Gloria and Edgar from seeing it, fearing their worry. The post included a picture of Christopher and Maisy hugging intimately, and the caption read: "Wishing nothing but eternal happiness for this bitch and dickhead. I'd also like to make a formal announcement that scummy Christopher and I broke up on the 30th of last month."

Her phone buzzed incessantly with notifications, but Skylar ignored them, rushing to the antique street. Upon arriving at Daniel's store, she found Daniel and Caleb staring at her with concern.

"Um, Skye, how about you take the day off? Restoring antiques takes a long time; it won't matter if you rest for a day or two," Daniel cautiously suggested. Even the usually carefree Caleb seemed more cautious.

"Hey, how about I give you a ride on my motorcycle? It's pretty thrilling, and you'll definitely forget about that son of a bitch!"

Skylar chuckled. "I'm fine."

"Really?" they asked simultaneously.

"I wouldn't have posted to social media if I was unhappy."

"That's great!" they replied.

Feeling a warm sensation, Skylar said, "I'll go wash my hands before starting the restoration work." While she did so, Daniel and Caleb exchanged hushed words.