Chapter 4

Denise caught up with me in a few quick strides.

Before she could say anything, a noisy group of wedding guests came rushing through the hallway, cutting between us.

I tried to move out of the way, but someone knocked into me. I lost my balance and hit the floor.

People kept pushing past, and I barely managed to avoid getting stepped on. I threw up an arm to protect myself and shouted, "Denise!"

She was only a few feet away.

"Cody! Hang on! I'm coming!"

But just then, Eric called out from somewhere farther down the hall.

"Denise! Help! My suit's caught on something!"

Through the crowd, I caught Denise's eye.

She hesitated, looking between me and Eric. For a second, I thought she might actually come help me.

Then she made her choice.

I couldn't hear her over the noise, but I saw her mouth the same words she always told me.

"Wait for me."

She turned and pushed her way toward Eric without another glance in my direction.

I curled up on the floor and covered my head with my arms, watching the heels I picked out for her disappear into the crowd.

People stepped on my hands and legs as they rushed past. I tried to get out of the way, but there was nowhere to go.

Still, the physical pain was nothing compared to watching Denise walk away when I needed her.

She never came back.

By the time I managed to get to my feet, the hallway was deserted.

I took a cab to the hospital alone. I was just finishing up with the doctor when my parents rushed in after hearing what happened.

Mom hurried over and looked me up and down, her face tight with worry.

"Oh, Cody! What happened to you? How did you end up getting hurt on your wedding day?"

I looked up, trying to keep my composure, and managed a faint smile. "I'm fine, Mom. It's nothing."

The bruises would heal. What Denise did hurt a whole lot more.

Dad frowned. "There's no way you'll make it back in time for the wedding. I'll call the venue and have them push back the ceremony."

I stopped him before he could take out his phone.

"Don't bother, Dad. The wedding's off."

My parents exchanged a look. Neither of them asked why. One look at my face seemed to tell them enough.

They clearly wanted to say something, but after a moment, they just sighed.

They knew how much this wedding meant to me. They watched me spend years trying to make things work with Denise, getting my hopes up again and again, only to be let down every time.

They also knew I wouldn't walk away from eight years together unless I had finally reached my breaking point.

I told them about the job assignment overseas, and they helped me pack.

A few hours later, I sat in the airport departure lounge, waiting for my flight.

I checked my phone and found over 100 unread messages.

Some were from friends congratulating me on the wedding, while others were about work. But the conversation pinned at the top of my inbox was still silent.

I ignored it and opened the next chat.

The wedding photographer sent me the pictures from earlier that day.

There were over 100 photos, and every single one showed Denise and Eric together.

In most of them, Denise stood close to Eric with her arm linked through his, smiling up at him. She looked at him with a warmth and affection she never showed me.

The photographer even sent a cheerful message.

[Hey, man! You and your bride look amazing together! Pick your favorite shot, and I'll have it framed for you, on the house!]

I let out a humorless laugh and typed my reply.

[You should ask the bride. I'm not the groom.]

I closed the chat, pressed and held my conversation with Denise, and deleted it without a second thought.

A few minutes later, my phone started buzzing.

More than a dozen messages from Denise came pouring in, pushing our conversation right back to the top of my inbox.

Then she called.

I stared at her name on the screen for a couple of seconds before finally answering.

"Cody, are you seriously still throwing a fit? Why'd you have to tell everyone those lies about Eric? Do you have any idea how upset he is?"

She went off on me so fast that I barely got a chance to respond.

I waited for her to finish, hoping she would at least explain why she never came back for me. And yet, she didn't.

"You never came back for me," I said.

Silence.

I could almost picture the confused look on her face.

"Forget it," I said. "It doesn't matter anymore."

I should've known better than to expect anything from her.

Denise made promises easily enough. Keeping them was another story.

"Good. Then get back here and apologize to Eric. The ceremony's about to start, but I'm warning you now. I'm not saying my vows until you've made things right with him."

I opened my mouth to tell her there was no point waiting. The wedding was already canceled.

However, she hung up before I got a word out.

The call lasted 19 seconds. In all that time, she never once asked where I was, whether I was hurt, or why I left. All she cared about was Eric.

There were only ten minutes left before the ceremony.

If I hadn't corrected the photographer, Denise probably wouldn't have remembered I was missing until the wedding was over.

At this rate, she might've walked down the aisle with Eric and married him without even noticing I wasn't there.

But I wasn't sticking around to see how far things would go. If she wanted Eric so badly, she could have him.

Just then, the announcement for my flight came over the speakers.

I sent Denise one final message, telling her we were through and I wanted nothing more to do with her. Then I deleted her number and blocked her on everything.

-

An hour passed before Denise finally thought about Cody again.

After spending most of that time comforting Eric, she stepped out of the lounge and noticed that half the wedding guests were already gone.

A bad feeling settled in her stomach.

In the past, whenever she and Cody fought, she could ignore him for days or even weeks, and he would always come crawling back to apologize.

He wanted to marry her more than anything. There was no way he would throw away their wedding over something so small.

Besides, she wasn't actually going to call off the ceremony. She just wanted to teach him a lesson.

She knew how long he had waited for this day. She wouldn't really take that away from him.

But the ceremony was supposed to have ended an hour ago, and Cody still hadn't shown up.

Denise spotted one of Cody's relatives heading for the exit and hurried over.

"Excuse me, why is everyone leaving? What happened to the wedding?"

The man stared at her in disbelief.

"Cody's dad told everyone the wedding was canceled. What do you mean, what happened? Aren't you the bride?"