Chapter 2

Back in the bridal suite, I took off the wedding gown.

The moment I changed into ordinary clothes, I finally felt as though I could breathe again.

I was packing my things when Miles and Audrey walked in.

Miles looked at me and immediately began his usual lecture.

"You left the stage five minutes early, and your vow timing was off. That's five points off your wedding score.

"Learn from it. Before the next ceremony, practice another five months on your own. Stop making the rest of us pay for your mistakes."

Miles measured the perfection of our wedding through scores.

One point lost meant one more month of practice for me.

Month after month after month.

Across eighteen canceled weddings, I had waited seven full years for him.

If seven years had not produced a marriage, the eighth would not be different.

I did not have many seven-year stretches to waste, and I no longer wanted to wait.

When I stayed silent, Miles took it as agreement.

Audrey, however, looked genuinely curious. "You can lose points? I thought Miles only gave bonus points."

"So what's Celia's score now?"

My throat suddenly felt dry. "Negative five. What about you?"

"I'm over six thousand."

I went completely still.

Thinking I did not believe her, Audrey eagerly opened her social-media feed.

Photo after photo of Miles and Audrey filled the screen, each one captioned with an ever-growing score.

Perfect cookies: plus ten.

Perfectly clocked out on time: plus twenty.

Knew to ride home in my passenger seat and didn't get a drop on her: plus fifty.

The newest post, uploaded three minutes earlier, read: Perfectly cleaned up Celia's wedding disaster: plus one hundred.

The post came from a man's account I did not recognize.

But I recognized the profile picture instantly. It was the watch I had given Miles.

I'd known for years that Miles used a different account to follow Audrey, and I had comforted myself by assuming it was his rarely used secondary profile, that keeping it separate was its own kind of restraint.

Now I understood that the silent account sitting in my own contacts might have been the secondary one all along.

I stared at those glaring scores until my eyes burned and I could not look up.

Seven years of struggling for a negative score suddenly looked ridiculous.

Audrey finally seemed to realize how ugly the situation appeared and punched Miles lightly on the arm.

"This is your fault. Celia is your fiancée. How can she only have negative five?"

They began bickering over the scores.

I quietly took out my phone and messaged Nathan Delaney, one of my biggest clients.

"Mr. Delaney, is your offer to recruit me to the overseas branch still open?"

"Absolutely. My flight leaves early the day after tomorrow. Want to come with me?"

I looked up and met Miles's dark eyes.

My heart skipped a beat.

He only frowned and clicked his tongue.

"Fine. I'll give you five points back so somebody stops complaining that I'm too demanding.

"But if you wear that dress again next time, that's another two points off.

"How many times have you worn it now? It's old. You should have thrown it away already."

His eyes settled on the corner of the wedding gown showing from my suitcase.

My hand tightened around the phone, and I pressed send firmly. "See you the day after tomorrow."

Then I pulled the gown out.

Together with every piece of jewelry and clothing Miles had chosen for his perfect wedding, I dropped it into the trash.

"You're right. Old things should be thrown away."

Miles stared at the pile, uncertainty flashing across his face.

Before he could say anything, one of the bridal-suite clocks chimed again.

I cut him off. "It's time for the reception toast. If you wait any longer, you'll miss the schedule."

Audrey looked at him expectantly, and Miles turned to leave with her.

At the door, he paused. "You reminded us about the timing on your own. That's three points back. One more week of practice should be enough."

"Relax. The next wedding will definitely work."

I kept packing, completely unmoved.

He did not know there would be no wedding a week from now.

And I no longer wanted an exception that arrived this late.