I met Sarah for the first time in the rain. She was locked out of her car, which was parked outside of my apartment building. I noticed her peering into her driver side window, cursing under her breath as she noticed her keys laying on the passenger seat. I saw her struggle and invited her inside, away from the rain. She made a joke about not talking to strangers, but agreed, stating that she’ll just make a phone call and be on her way when help arrives.

 I put a kettle of water on the stove to warm for tea and offered her a dry sweatshirt. She accepted, and when help arrived to unlock her car two cups of tea later, I smiled and stated that I’d have to see her again if I wanted my sweatshirt back. I gave her my number and received a call two days afterward.

 Sarah and I had spent a lot of time together since then. There were days at the beach, where she would walk right into the cool water, while I took my twenty minutes just to get in waist-deep. We went to Karaoke nights together, played drinking games with her friends, and took walks in the park together. When I asked her to marry me, we were ice skating on a pond in City Park. I purposely slipped on the ice, in order to get on one knee to propose. Of course, she said yes. 

 She moved in afterward; that’s when the fights started. I took too long in the shower when she wanted to take a bath. I liked the bedroom hot, Sarah liked it to feel like the Arctic. I spent too much time at work, she was too friendly with her ex. Eventually, we called it quits. She tells people that it was a mutual decision; it wasn’t. I told her to keep her ring (what was I to do with it?), but she wouldn’t. For a week after the break-up, I didn’t do much other than wipe my wet eyes and watch old Sanford and Son reruns. After the eighth day, I decided to stop wasting my time. I got back to work and started going for jogs. I kept Sarah’s engagement ring in my pocket, not ready to let go completely, until one day during a run through the park. I stopped alongside the pond, pulled out her ring, and threw it forcefully into the water.