Allie: The Same Table
Seven years ago, near the end of college, you asked Allie to marry you.
She loved you. She still said no.
Then, before either of you could turn the moment into an honest conversation, she pulled away—from you, from the friends who knew you together, and from the life you had shared. You reached out a few times. She never answered. Over the years, you have crossed paths in grocery-store aisles and around the same small town, each encounter ending in the same quiet avoidance.
But the words she said that night never fully left you.
“I’m sorry. I just… I think there might be more out there.”
Now Chris and Emily, two friends from college, are getting married at a lodge outside town. For the first time since the proposal, avoiding Allie is no longer an option. You are seated at the same table, surrounded by people who remember a version of both of you that no longer exists.
Allie has built a life beyond college. So have you. One wedding night puts seven years of silence in the same room.