On the day we were supposed to discuss our wedding date, Derek Lawson pinned my photo to the ‘free’ board at the community flea market.
In the price field, his best friend, Tori Bennett, had scrawled “one cent.”
Beside it, she’d written:
*Five-year relationship. Clingy. Comes with eight old quilts. All sales final.*
By the time I reached Fairmount Park, Tori was already shouting into the event organizer’s megaphone.
“Derek’s sick of her. Whoever wants to take over today can have her for free.”
“Age doesn’t matter. Her biggest selling point? She’s desperate to get married!”
The crowd laughed.
A woman shopping for her divorced son grabbed my arm. She sized me up, decided I was too skinny, and demanded that Derek throw in a car.
He actually started to negotiate with her.
“The car is fine, but you have to make sure your son doesn’t let her run back to her own apartment. She’s too clingy. He’ll have to keep her in line.”
I jerked my arm out of the woman’s grip.
Only then did Derek pull me to his side, speaking as if nothing had happened.
“You’ve been hounding me about the wedding date every day. I can’t breathe.”
“Spend one afternoon here, and you’ll see that no one else is willing to take you. Then maybe you’ll learn how to treat me.”
Tori shoved the megaphone toward my mouth.
“Come on, Lydia, sell yourself a little. If you fix that attitude, maybe someone will actually want you.”
His friends were all filming. In their group chat, they were taking bets on how long it would take before I broke down and begged him to tear down the poster.
I looked past the crowd and saw a familiar face.
Everett Hale’s mother was standing in front of the board, pulling out the thumbtack and slowly tearing the poster down.
I borrowed a phone from one of the market organizers and dialed the number I knew by heart.
“Everett, change your ticket to Boston. Make it two.”
“Come get me, and I’ll go with you.”
He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 20 The whole building came out to watch. Carol stopped there when she told me. She said just listening to them argue was exhausting. Now Derek stood in front of me, lowering his gaze as he touched the newly embroidered cloth. “Tori’s gone. Those
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 19 “I explained everything to the flea market organizers. I made a public statement about the video, too. I treated your feelings like a joke. None of what happened that day was your fault.” Carol had already told me about that. After he went
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 18 The next time Derek appeared was several months after I left Philadelphia. That afternoon, Carol was helping out at the community center, and I had gone to pick her up. Derek was standing by a bench outside the activity room with a roll
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 17 He caught the coat rack before it tipped over, took out his phone, and stepped toward the door. “Mom, we’re not coming tonight. Lydia wants to rest. I’ll bring her another day.” Mrs. Hale’s voice came through the receiver. “Did someone start spreading
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 16 It took me a long time to sew that patch in place. When I was little, I always thought my mother worked too slowly at things like this. It was only after I held a needle myself that I understood how much patience
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 15 After listening, she only told me that if anything went wrong, I should call home. Later, the landline at home was disconnected. After that, whenever I was wronged, all I could do was try to persuade myself to forget it. Derek stepped toward
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 14 Tori’s eyes went red. “You saw me take out the scissors. And you were the one holding her back!” There was the sound of a door opening downstairs. Neighbors were standing on the stairs, watching. Mrs. Lawson came back up and grabbed Tori,
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 13 Derek pushed at Tori’s shoulder, driving her into the hallway. “I told you to stay in the guest room so you could wait with me for Lydia to come back. Why are you bringing this up now?” Tori hit the wall, and the
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 12 They’d added words like *gentle* and *family-oriented*. Underneath, they had listed that after marriage I would take care of Derek’s parents, quit any job that required travel, and have children as soon as possible. As I looked at the photo, I heard the
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He Priced Me At A Penny So I Married Another Chapter 11 Carol stood in the doorway and said nothing for several seconds. “Say that again. What exactly are you here for?” Mrs. Lawson lifted the display board and pointed inside. “Derek told me everything. Lydia felt wronged, so we’ll fix the terms publicly. The
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