When Max announced his wedding, I decided to attend for our daughters. But seeing the +1 gave me an idea. I asked my coworker and close friend Edward to pretend to be my boyfriend. He was handsome, athletic, and exactly the kind of man Max would notice. Edward agreed, though his reaction suggested he had another reason.
At the wedding, Max stared when he saw us together. But instead of being impressed, he laughed. “Your boyfriend? No one would date you. Especially someone like him.” Then he asked whether I had paid Edward to come. My face burned, but Edward calmly told Max he had brought him a wedding gift.
Inside the box was an enormous pair of old trousers. Edward explained that they had once belonged to him when he was much heavier. Years earlier, he had refused birthday cake because he believed people like him didn’t deserve it. I had told him that my husband spoke about me the same way. That conversation had changed something in him.
