Chapter 3

I kept walking, but Claire caught up with me in the hotel lobby and grabbed my wrist. She stepped between me and the elevators, the engagement ring I had given her still on her left hand and the watch I had just returned to her in her right.

“Ethan, what exactly are you trying to do?”

She had followed me out of the ballroom without offering a single explanation for the kiss.

“I thought you apologized because you finally understood that today's marriage was only about Adrian's treatment.” She held up the watch. “Instead, you announced in front of everyone that Adrian had taken your place, then handed this back as a wedding gift. Now our friends think he planned the whole thing and used his condition to destroy our wedding.”

“So you came after me because you're worried about his reputation.”

“I'm worried that you're turning this into something we can't repair.” Her fingers tightened around the watch. “You know he can't handle people talking about him like that. Our wedding is still happening in October, so why are you determined to make everyone think there is something between us?”

I had expected her to explain why she had waited before pushing Adrian away. I would even have accepted a question about whether the kiss had hurt me. Her first concern was what our friends might think of him.

Two years earlier, the three of us had gone hiking in the Cascade Mountains. A blizzard swept over the trail during our descent.

Adrian froze on an exposed ridge and refused to move. I went back to help him, but the ice beneath my boots broke away. I slammed into the rocks below and twisted my right knee so badly that I could not put any weight on it.

Claire activated the emergency beacon. By the time a rescue helicopter reached us, snow covered most of the ridge and visibility was dropping by the minute. The pilot warned that they could remain on the ground for only a few minutes.

After examining my knee, the medic said I needed to be taken down first. Adrian's vital signs were normal, and he could wait with the ranger for the next rescue team.

Adrian heard him and grabbed Claire's arm. He was gasping, telling her that he would die if they left him on the mountain.

“He has a history of self-harm. You can't leave him here,” Claire told the medic as she blocked him from reaching me. “Take Adrian first.”

The pilot explained that only two passenger seats remained. If Claire insisted on accompanying Adrian, I would have to wait for the next flight.

She hesitated for only a few seconds before helping Adrian into the helicopter and climbing in beside him.

“They'll be back soon,” she called before the door closed. “Hold on, Ethan.”

Less than ten minutes after the helicopter left, the storm sealed the mountain pass. The remaining flights were canceled, and I spent the night with the ranger in an emergency shelter. He splinted my knee, wrapped me in a thermal blanket, and kept the rescue radio beside us. Each time the wind shifted, I listened for rotors that never came.

I reached the hospital the following afternoon. Claire was sitting in Adrian's observation room. She had stayed there while he was sedated and learned only hours later that the second flight had been canceled.

When she heard that I needed surgery, she held me and apologized until her voice broke, promising that she would never leave me behind in danger again.

Then came my documentary premiere, the freeway pileup, and every late-night call from Adrian. Each time, Claire made the same choice.

I pulled my wrist free. “Believe whatever you want.”

The rest of her argument stalled. She looked at my bare wrist, then at the watch in her hand, and some of the anger left her face.

“I wasn't trying to blame you.” Her voice softened. “That kiss was an accident. Adrian only did it because everyone was cheering, and I'll talk to him when we get home. Please don't dwell on it or make yourself miserable over him.”

I had heard those reassurances too many times.

Now they were legally married, and he had kissed her in front of all our friends. Claire still expected me to dismiss it as another harmless misunderstanding.

I looked at the watch in her palm and laughed under my breath.

“You're right. I shouldn't keep making myself miserable over Adrian.”

Relief crossed Claire's face. She raised her hand, ready to take mine again, but I stepped out of reach.

“So let's cancel our wedding.”