Instead, I ended up making an attempt at writing another book, but everything came out more like diary entries. If I were writing, The Diary of a Mad Woman, or The Journals of a Crazy, Soon to Be Divorced Fake Bride, it might have been time well spent. Instead, it was just a bunch of my ramblings. Studying also didn’t work, since it was impossible to concentrate. I thanked my past self for getting fabulous grades, because then, even if I bombed my exams, I’d still be able to graduate on time. The only thing that would stop me from doing so would be if I just didn’t show up.

The one thing I didn’t do, was send a message to my husband or attempt to call him. Sure, I wanted to know what had happened that he landed himself in the news with his ex-girlfriend again, but at the same time, my pride would not allow me to ask. He hadn’t called, texted, or sent any other form of message to me. I thought his silence spoke volumes anyway. He had changed his mind about where our future was headed. I couldn’t really blame him. Despite how well I was doing with therapy thus far, my issues still made me what amounted to tainted goods. I was also still the wife who had never had sex with her husband, despite our wedding being almost two months behind us at that point.

Finally, after being fed up with myself and my wandering mind for two days since that article had come out, I managed to leave the apartment. I went to my parent’s house first. “Mina, it’s so good to see you,” my mother insisted as she pulled me in for a quick hug. “What brings you by?”

Well, if my mother wasn’t going to discuss reading a headline about my husband being off in another country with his ex, then I wasn’t about to bring it up. “I thought about going to the cabin in the mountains for a couple of days. Exams are next week, and I think the solitude may help me take the edge off all the studying.”

“Do you really think it wise to go there all on your own?”

“I’ll be 21 years old next week. I think I’m big enough to be on my own for a bit,” I argued.

“Well, of course you are. I just meant,” she hesitated and then glanced around, as if someone might overhear her. “I know things aren’t going well for you and your husband right now. I wondered if it was wise for you to be all on your own, considering.”

Well shit. That didn’t sound good. Had I missed something else happening with Tucker? I shook it off, because it didn’t matter. “Mom, as you are aware, Tucker and I did not marry for love. My heart is not broken. I just need a quiet place to get away to study before the last exams of my college career.” When had I become a liar? My heart was a little battered, truth be told, but I didn’t trust anyone to know that.