I Picked Up My Best Friend After Her Breakup… Then She Asked, “Why Didn’t I Choose You?”
Chapter 1
Ethan Cole knew something was wrong the moment he saw Sarah standing outside the restaurant.
It was nearly eleven on a cold Friday night, and the parking lot was almost empty. Ethan had been sitting in his truck for twenty minutes, watching the restaurant doors.
Sarah had told him she would call when she was ready.
She hadn’t.
Instead, she had sent one message.
Can you come get me? Please.
No explanation.
No details.
Just those four words.
Ethan had left his apartment immediately.
Now he watched the restaurant entrance.
Then the doors opened.
Sarah stepped outside.
She wasn’t crying.
That somehow worried him more.
She walked toward his truck carrying a small handbag, wearing the black dress she’d bought specifically for her anniversary dinner with Daniel.
Her makeup was still perfect.
Her hair was still styled.
But something inside her expression had gone completely empty.
Ethan stepped out of the truck.
“Sarah?”
She looked at him.
For a second, neither of them spoke.
Then she walked straight into his arms.
Ethan froze.
Sarah had hugged him thousands of times during their fifteen-year friendship.
But never like this.
Tonight, she held him as though she was afraid that if she let go, she would fall apart.
Ethan wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m here.”
She nodded against his chest.
“Can we just go?”
“Of course.”
He didn’t ask what happened.
Not yet.
He opened the passenger door for her.
Sarah climbed in.
The entire drive was silent.
Rain began tapping against the windshield.
Ethan kept both hands on the steering wheel.
He wanted to ask.
He wanted to know whether Daniel had hurt her.
Whether they had broken up.
Whether she needed him to turn around and drive somewhere else.
But he knew Sarah.
When she was ready, she’d tell him.
Twenty minutes later, he pulled into her driveway.
Sarah didn’t move.
Ethan looked over.
She was staring through the windshield.
“Do you want me to come inside?”
She shook her head.
Then she whispered:
“He ended it.”
Ethan’s chest tightened.
“Daniel?”
She nodded.
“What happened?”
“He said he didn’t love me anymore.”
Ethan looked away.
He had never liked Daniel.
Not because Daniel was terrible.
Because Daniel never seemed to understand what he had.
Sarah was intelligent, funny, loyal, ambitious, and endlessly generous.
Ethan had watched her rearrange her entire life around Daniel.
She canceled plans.
Moved meetings.
Skipped family dinners.
Even turned down a promotion because Daniel didn’t want to move cities.
And now Daniel had decided he didn’t love her.
Ethan felt anger rising.
But he kept it hidden.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Not tonight.”
“Okay.”
She finally opened the door.
Before getting out, she looked at him.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For coming.”
Ethan smiled.
“You never have to thank me for that.”
Sarah looked at him for another second.
Then she said something that Ethan would remember for the rest of his life.
“Why are you always the one who comes?”
He didn’t know what to say.
She stepped out.
“Goodnight, Ethan.”
He watched her walk toward the house.
Then she stopped.
Turned around.
And looked back at him.
For a moment, Ethan wondered if she was going to say something else.
She didn’t.
She disappeared through the front door.
Ethan drove home.
He couldn’t sleep.
At two in the morning, his phone buzzed.
A message from Sarah.
Are you awake?
He replied immediately.
Yes.
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally, her message arrived.
I keep thinking about something Daniel said.
Ethan waited.
He said I never really loved him.
Ethan frowned.
Another message.
He said I spent years choosing what was safe instead of what I actually wanted.
Ethan stared at the screen.
He typed:
He’s wrong.
Sarah replied:
Maybe.
Then:
But what if he’s not?
Ethan didn’t answer.
Because for the first time, he wondered whether Sarah was talking about Daniel.
Or him.
