They weren't worth anything. But back then, the love behind them was.
Now the love wasn't worth anything either.
With a soft thud, I tossed the dried flowers into the trash.
Back in the room, I opened the cabinet.
I took the new phone out of its box and slipped in my own SIM card.
The first thing I did after powering it on was quit my weekend side job.
The second thing was call my brother.
"Quinn Sullivan, can you send me the contact info for that lawyer friend of yours?"
My money. I wasn't going to let anyone else walk away with a single cent of it.
"What's going on?"
Maybe something in my voice gave me away, because my brother picked up on it immediately.
"It's nothing. I'll tell you once I've sorted it out."
He didn't push. A second later, a business card popped up on my screen.
The lawyer called me back almost right away.
"So let me get this straight. You're not married, but every dollar you saved, you transferred to him?"
"And the down payment on the house includes your money?"
He must not have come across someone this lovesick and naive very often.
There was a pause on the other end of the line.
"If you have the transaction records, this money shouldn't be too hard to recover."
"But did you include any notes with the transfers? Keywords like 'house purchase' or 'bride price,' anything like that?"
"Yes."
I was stupid.
But at least not that stupid.
Every time I transferred money to Marvin, I'd made sure to note what it was for and which installment it was.
Partly to keep my own records straight, and partly so I'd always know exactly how much I'd sent him in total.
"That makes things a lot easier. There's a very good chance you can get all of it back."
Hearing that loosened the knot in my chest a little.
"But the house isn't in my name. Can I still get my money back?"
Silence again on the other end.
After a long moment, he let out a sigh. "Girl, they don't make them as trusting as you anymore..."
I gave a bitter laugh and mumbled something back.
Yeah. I really was that naive.
"It's fine. The transaction records are what matter."
"Pull up all your transfer history and send it to me. And screenshots of your conversations with him too."
"Okay."
After I hung up, I opened my account and pulled everything.
I'd started transferring money to Marvin in August 2022.
First came the house fund. Fifty installments.