Chapter 4

It wasn't until the ticket confirmation came through that I could breathe again.

I took a screenshot of the flight details, got up, and started packing.

Passing the study, through the gap in the door, I saw Avery holding her phone up to her right ear with the speaker turned toward it, cupping it like something precious, terrified of missing a single word Mason said.

There was a time I sent her a voice message because I was walking and couldn't type.

It was the first time she ever lost her temper with me.

"Lucas, you know my hearing is bad. Why would you send me something I have to fight to hear? Could you think about how that feels for once?"

She barely spoke to me for a week.

I never sent her another one.

And now she was playing Mason's, over and over.

"How's the ring? Did Lucas like it?"

"Told you. My finger's the same size as his. Nothing I put on my own hand first is going to be wrong."

"So. How are you thanking me?"

The teasing in his voice made her laugh, her eyes creasing with it.

"Give it a couple of days. I still need you to try on the groom's suit and walk the ceremony with me. I'll thank you for all of it at once."

Mason paused, then said in a put-out little voice, "Avery. Are you marrying Lucas, or are you marrying me?"

She didn't answer right away. It was a long time before she said, "If it were you, at least I'd be happy about it. Actually happy."

My eyes stung so badly I pressed the back of my hand against them and held it there ten, fifteen seconds, until the heat went down.

I turned away and didn't look at them again. My documents and a few clothes went into the suitcase.

The second the zipper closed, Avery pushed the door open and stopped short at the sight of it.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Work's sending me on a trip." I didn't look up.

She hesitated, then glanced at the heavy sky outside.

"I'll drive you."

I had no reason to say no. "Okay."

The car ate up the highway. Avery put music on, some slow, drifting jazz.

It was the song Mason had shared a few days earlier.

She hummed along like she'd known it for years.

On the ninth time through, she said, eyes on the road, "When are you back? Send me your flight number. I'll pick you up, and then we need to start getting the wedding together."

I didn't answer. I just kept turning the ring.

Maybe I wasn't as thrilled as she'd expected, because she frowned over at me.

"What's wrong with you? You've been after me about getting married for how long, and now you've got nothing to say?"

I paused. Then, calmly, "Avery, we—"

Mason's call cut me off.

"Ave, I just had a nightmare. The thunder woke me up. My chest feels so tight I can't get a full breath. Can you come sit with me?"

"Yes. I'm coming now."

She hung up, and the car swung around toward the other direction.

"Avery, I'm going to miss my flight."

She didn't hear me.

I raised my voice. "Avery, if he can't breathe, he can go to a doctor. You're not his physician. You can't treat him."

She hit the brakes hard and pulled onto the shoulder.

"And I'm not your driver. Get out."

It wasn't a request.

Thunder went off outside the car. Rain started hitting the windows.

The ring finally dropped into my palm. It barely made a sound.

I opened the door and got out.

The second I had my suitcase clear of the trunk, she pulled away.

The momentum staggered me, and I went down into the mud and the runoff.

I looked at the direction her taillights had gone, and I laughed.

Five years, and this was how it ended. In a mess, on the side of a road.

Which was fine. It cut the last of it loose.

We wouldn't be seeing each other again.