This year, I spent months saving for a pair of diamond earrings for her birthday. Jenna had claimed she wasn’t celebrating, but a chance encounter with her coworker revealed she had planned an extravagant party—and I wasn’t invited. Confused and hurt, I decided to attend unannounced.
When I arrived, her face fell. She pulled me aside and admitted she hadn’t invited me because she was embarrassed I didn’t give her lavish gifts like her friends’ husbands.
I handed her the earrings I had saved so long for, and her reaction was a mix of joy and relief. But it wasn’t enough. The realization that I wasn’t part of the life she wanted to portray shattered something in me.
I left the party, knowing it wasn’t just a celebration I’d been excluded from—it was her world.