Semua Bab I Walked Away After Seven Letdowns: Bab 1 - Bab 8

I stared at the text. Once. Twice. Three times.Even if I were the slowest guy on the planet, I would still get it. This was Leo Harrison taunting me on purpose. Another jab, another smug little reminder that I had been stood up yet again.I had already suspected he was the reason why Claire ditched our marriage appointment. But seeing Leo's name pop up with that message? That still knocked the wind out of me. Like getting sucker-punched in the ribs.Claire and I grew up together. Next-door neighbors, sandbox buddies, the whole childhood-sweetheart cliche. I used to dream about marrying her before I even knew how taxes worked.The first time I told her, we were maybe seven, still missing teeth and fighting over crayons. Our parents thought it was adorable and laughed themselves silly over dinner.Back then, she treated me like I was important to her. And for a long time, I believed she felt the same.Then college happened. That was when she brought Leo home for the first time. "J

After that day, I cut all contact with Claire—deleted her number, wiped her from my socials. It was like she never existed.My friends would invite me out a few times. I would always ask first, "Is Claire gonna be there?"Eventually, they stopped asking. Everyone started inviting just one of us at a time—a quiet understanding. No one wanted to rock the boat.Time slipped by, and before I knew it, the day before our college's anniversary celebration had arrived.Riley had already called me about it ahead of time, asking if I was going. As one of the school's "outstanding alumni," I had gotten an invitation, too.What I didn't expect was that Claire would be attending too.Now that I think about it, I shouldn't have been surprised. She was always top of the class back in school, and after graduating, she helped the college build up its internship program. Inviting her made sense.When Riley and I got to campus, it was packed, shoulder to shoulder. I flipped through the event sched

I glanced at my phone. The screen was a mess. Calls and texts stacked on top of each other, mostly from Riley and a few other friends. A handful came from some random number I didn't recognize.It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was. Claire must have borrowed someone else's phone. Again.I blocked the number immediately.Then, I opened my WhatsApp and was greeted with a bunch of red dots. It was as if my phone had contracted chickenpox when I wasn't looking. A bunch of friends had reached out, asking if something had happened to me.I sighed, rubbed my temple, and finally posted to my Instagram Story.'I'm fine. Just officially done with certain people and certain things from the past.'Riley liked it within seconds. Then, he called me."Zach, you finally woke up. You have no idea. Claire's totally lost it."He sounded drained. Suspiciously so.I asked her what happened. When he told me, I couldn't help it… I cracked up.Claire had gone on a full-blown manhunt. She

After that day, I packed up and returned to my hometown.It was just before the holidays. Sure enough, the reunion invites started rolling in. Old classmates found out I was back and wanted to catch up. As a result, I ended up bouncing from one gathering to the next for a few days straight.It was during the last of those gatherings that things took an unexpected turn.I showed up about 30 minutes late, and heard my name just as I was reaching for the private room's door. Well, not my name, exactly. Hers."Claire! You and Zach used to be joined at the hip, weren't you? You two grew up together and everything. Why haven't you gotten married yet?""Yeah, we all thought for sure you guys would tie the knot right after college!"My hand froze on the doorknob.Inside, there was a pause. Then, Claire's voice, soft and hesitant, came. "We're close. It's happening soon."That set off a round of whoops and teasing from the group.I let go of the doorknob and turned around. No way was I