Victor had made me do a lot of things. But it was all me when I told Asher, “I thought you were nice, but your actions last night let me know that you really aren’t. Me saying I would be open to dating you in June didn’t give you the right to kiss me. And thanks for introducing me to the people over at Yinz Entertainment. But doing that doesn’t entitle you to me either. So even if we’re in the same city, I don’t want to date you.”

Asher was twenty-nine, just a year or two younger than me. But I don’t think he was used to rejection. The ever affable look disappeared from his face, and he said, “You sure about that? I mean, at this point, your husband will be lucky if I don’t sue him. Maybe I’ll get all his money.”

I told him the truth. More for his sake than mine. “He’ll kill you before he lets you sue him, Asher. I really wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

I guess Asher didn’t have any more comeback in him after that. He just walked away, and a few days later, he and Elizabeth Ann Margaret walked into our Thesis Production seminar holding hands.

She shot me a triumphant look as she and Asher took a seat just a few rows down from me.

I could only feel sorry for her. Asher wasn’t as big of a catch as she thought. And love wasn’t a game that could be won. Only lost. I’d found that out the hard way.

But whatever. I barely gave Asher another thought after I set him straight. I just wished I could say the same about Victor.

Everything I’d said to him was true. I had every right to invite someone to ask me out after we started divorce proceedings. He had been nothing but a monster to me for nine years when Asher approached me. Of course, I would start planning for a life beyond being his prisoner wife.

Yet, regret had immediately set in as soon as the door closed behind him. And my belly had been flip-flopping between pride and remorse ever since.

As busy as I was finalizing my thesis, I kept getting lost in daydreams of what I should have said to Victor that night.

I’d been so excited to spend time with him after the presentations. I could’ve explained things clearly to him. Instead of screaming at him that he was a monster or comparing him to some guy I didn’t even really want, I could have communicated with him like a grown-up. I could have told him how much I’d loved the surprise trip to Washington D.C., but how confusing being that intimate with him again had made me.