Semua Bab She Canceled. I Left.: Bab 1 - Bab 9

The insurance rep asked Olivia to confirm it for the third time."Ms. Grant, I need to hear you say it. You really want to terminate the Love Insurance policy?"He tapped the contract."It matures in three days. Keep it active that long and the two of you collect a three-hundred-thousand-dollar payout."Olivia didn't even look up.She signed the cancellation form."Terminate it."Nathan winced."When you two bought this policy, you were about as in love as anyone who's ever sat in that chair. You told me you wanted to renew it the day it matured."Pain closed around my chest.I gripped the arm of my chair.Olivia already had her phone up, recording a voice message for somebody else."Julian, it's done. I canceled the Love Insurance."When I get back, we'll go down to the city hall."Then wedding photos, and rings. Sound good?"Nathan looked from her to me."Ms. Grant. Your husband is sitting right here."Even a stranger found it cruel.I'd lived inside it long enough

Olivia had always known that. She'd known it for years.She'd thrown it anyway."Serves you right," she said."You ruined one of the happiest days Julian and I have ever had. So don't come near me for a while. I'm busy."Take your mother and go."I hadn't thought she could be that cold.Eight years together, and there wasn't a scrap of feeling left in her for me. Not one.My eyes swelled shut. My face went hot and thick. Breathing turned into work.I tried to ask for help.Olivia took Julian's hand and walked out.She never looked back.When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed.A stranger from the restaurant had called for both of us. The doctor said that if we'd come in much later, the reaction could have killed me.I thought about the restaurant, and the pain came back in waves.Then I thought about Mom.She came in a few minutes later with a bandage on her head, telling me she was fine, that it was nothing.I let out a breath I'd been holding since the ambulance.And

By the time Olivia reached the site, police and rescue crews were working the shoreline in the rain.An officer came over to her."Your husband was driving extremely fast, ma'am. We pulled the traffic-camera footage."He was doing at least a hundred and ten. The car lost control, went through the barrier, and went into the water."Officer Hutchins held up a sealed evidence bag."We found his phone on the roadway. He may have thrown it out trying to get help."Each sentence landed harder than the one before it.Her face emptied out. Her ears were ringing."No. That's not possible."That car has a driver-assistance system. It was supposed to protect him."Then she saw the crews working the water and ran at them."Ethan!"Please. Don't do this to me. Please be all right."That was the first moment Olivia understood what losing someone permanently might actually feel like.She dropped to her knees in the rain and cried until she couldn't breathe.Hutchins was still talking b

"I asked you, more than once, whether you were certain."You signed the termination without a second's hesitation."Every word of it landed, and the regret kept climbing, and there was no getting out from under it."I know I was wrong. I've left the other man. I'm not with him anymore."Please. Just tell me where he went.""I'm not going to."All I can tell you is that Mr. Reed is never coming back, and you're never going to see him again."She walked out of there hollowed out, and for weeks afterward she moved through her own life like a woman who'd already left it.Then she went to my mother.Mom took one look at her and started closing the door.Olivia went down on her knees on the step."Diane. Please."Mom stared at her for a long moment. Then the part of her that had loved this girl once got the better of her."What good does any of this do now? Ethan's gone."And I'll tell you something else. You don't deserve what he felt for you."You thought he quit the piano b

She looked at me and there was still hope in it."Eth. Would you start over with me?"I answered gently."I'm sorry. I have a girlfriend."The door opened and Hannah Brooks came in.I'd met her overseas. She was the one who sat with me while I learned how to have a life again.Something went out of Olivia's eyes.The tears came faster."You really don't love me anymore?"I took Hannah's hand."No. I really don't."Everyone has to move forward eventually. Don't they."Hannah and I are getting married next month. You'd be welcome to come."I took the invitation out of my coat and held it out.Her tears came down onto the envelope. She had a hand pressed to her chest and she was shaking through all of it.She looked exactly the way I used to look.There'd been a time when all I wanted in the world was for her to stop divorcing me. She hadn't stopped. She'd gotten worse.Olivia bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood and didn't seem to notice it.She only looked at