Chapter 3

Lucille's POV

The lock clicked. Alexander came home with Casey.

The moment she walked in, she kicked off her sneakers and slipped her feet into the new slippers I had bought. "Hey, Lucille. Mind if I use your bathroom to freshen up?"

She didn't wait for an answer. She pushed open the master bedroom door and walked right in.

Alexander took off his coat. Seeing that I was staring at Casey's back, he casually explained, "She drank on my behalf all night. She reeks of booze."

Ten minutes later, Casey came out wearing nothing but my bath towel and plopped herself onto the couch. She draped one leg across Alexander's lap and picked up the tablet the wedding photographer had sent over.

"Perfect. Let's pick the photos from today."

She flipped through them like she was sorting through her own album.

The photos of her clinking glasses with Alexander stayed. The ones of her holding his hands from behind as they cut the cake stayed. The one of her throwing herself into his arms and smearing frosting all over him stayed, too.

What didn't stay was a single photo of me. When she reached the picture of me standing alone on the stage, she deleted it without hesitation. "Look at her face. She looks like she's at a funeral. What terrible luck."

The next photo showed my eyes, red from tears, as I took off my veil. She clicked her tongue.

"Goodbye to this one, too. Who wants pictures like this in their wedding album? It'll ruin the mood every time you look at it."

I reached for the tablet. Alexander got to it first and pressed his hand over it. "She's right. The wedding has already turned into a mess. There's no point keeping pictures that remind us of it."

Soon, Casey finished making her selections. Out of the 40 photos, not a single one showed my face clearly.

She tossed the tablet back onto the table, satisfied. "Now that's what a wedding album should look like."

Alexander didn't argue.

I turned and headed into the bedroom, closing the door behind me. Then I booked a flight for three days later.

Outside, Casey was calling for Alexander to help her find the hair dryer. He answered, his footsteps passing right outside my door without stopping.

With one day remaining before Alexander and I were scheduled to leave for our honeymoon, he tossed a revised itinerary onto the coffee table. Where my name had been, Casey's was now printed instead.

"When you finally come to your senses and apologize to me, I'll put your name back."

Casey was sprawled on the carpet, packing her scuba gear. She looked up when she heard that.

"Come on, Lucille. Hurry up and apologize. I really don't want to be in a honeymoon suite with Alex. It's like two dudes sharing a room."

At that, Alexander smiled. He was certain I would eventually give in. After all, we were supposed to leave the next day.

What he didn't know was that I would also be leaving, just one day after them.

The next day, I had planned to visit Mom's grave. Before she passed away, she had always regretted that she wouldn't live to see me walk down the aisle.

Alexander had promised to come with me after the wedding. We would bring flowers and our wedding guest book and tell her we had finally tied the knot.

I waited outside the cemetery until noon. The only thing I got from him was a text.

"Casey has a competition this afternoon. Her car broke down, so I'm taking her. We can visit your mom anytime. If Casey misses this competition, she won't get another chance."

In the end, I held the flowers against my chest and made my way up the hill alone.

A thin layer of dirt covered the gravestone. I crouched down and wiped it clean, then arranged the flowers in the vase.

"Hey, Mom… The wedding ceremony wasn't completed. The veil you left me got ruined, too."

When I was a kid, I would go home and tell Mom about everything that hurt my feelings, just like this.

"But it's okay. I've decided to leave. This time, I won't be waiting around for him."

Suddenly, footsteps sounded behind me. I turned around. Alexander and Casey were approaching me, one behind the other.

"Casey knew I was supposed to come here today, so she insisted on coming right after her competition," he said casually. "See? She's more considerate than you are."

Casey set a bottle of liquor in front of the gravestone. "Mrs. Walker, I got a little carried away at the wedding. But don't worry. If Al ever gives Lucille a hard time, I'll be the first to knock some sense into him."

With that, she pulled a red paint marker from her pocket, the kind she had used to sign things at her competition. "The headstone looks too plain. Doesn't exactly fit someone who just had a festivity at home."

She crouched down and drew a crooked red flower beside Mom's name. Then, as if it were nothing, she added a line. "Al got married! Love, Casey."

I grabbed her by the wrist. "Wipe it off."

Casey stared at me, as if I were the unreasonable one. "I was just trying to make her gravestone look a little more festive. What's your problem? Let go!"

"I said wipe it off!" I exclaimed, reaching for the marker.

She clicked her tongue and yanked her arm free. "Why are you getting worked up again?"

My foot slipped on the wet moss, and I went tumbling down the stone steps. My knee scraped against the gravel, and my elbow slammed into the edge of the gravestone.

Blood quickly ran down my arm.

Alexander's expression shifted. He instinctively stepped toward me, but Casey was already rubbing her reddened wrist. "I didn't push her. She just lost her footing."

He stopped. Despite looking at the blood running down my arm, he said coldly, "Apologize to Casey first."

I pulled myself up against the gravestone and sat down. "She scribbled all over Mom's gravestone and then shoved me!"

He frowned. "Just wipe it off. Did you have to get physical?"

Casey crouched down and hurriedly rubbed at the paint with her sleeve. Instead of coming off, the red paint smeared farther across the stone.

She stood up and held up her hands. "It's waterproof. I'll get someone to clean it up later. What's the big deal, Lucille?"

I stared at the ugly red streak beside Mom's name, and finally, my tears came.