The Proposal (The Wedding Date, #2)

by Jasmine Guillory

But somehow I’d stopped trusting myself and my feelings.”

whenever I bought anything, he asked me a million questions about it, so eventually I just stopped buying things other than groceries. Sometimes I would get cash back and hide the cash.”

“But I thought all of that was normal and showed how much he loved me.

having to sneak around

he made it harder and harder for me to see my friends, I thought it was normal.

So I stopped texting my friends very much. I didn’t really see them much, either.

How could anyone ever trust someone again after someone they loved had made them feel so isolated and doubt their own instincts?

when my friends and family told me there was something wrong, it would just make me frustrated and mad at them. He never hit me; everything was fine! How could they think I was one of those poor, beaten-down, abused women? That wasn’t me. Didn’t they know me?”

And if he got mad at me sometimes because he wanted fish for dinner and I’d made chicken, or if I went to the wrong gas station to fill up gas for his car, or when I miscarried but didn’t lose the pregnancy weight right away, it was only because he wanted me to be perfect.

was when I went running one day soon after he’d told me to lose weight after the miscarriage.

knew he would know if I didn’t exercise—we

hadn’t talked to my family or any of my friends in months, so I didn’t know where to turn.”

I blamed myself for trusting my ex, for letting him control me, for giving in to everything.