All Chapters of Seven Days Before the Wedding: Chapter 11 - Chapter 14

Helen looked down at her hands."I came up with a hundred ways to fix this. Rebook the wedding, put the study back, cut Martin off, change everything that bothered you."Then I realized if I was only doing all of that to get you back, I still didn't really understand."I didn't reach for the ring.Helen looked at it for a moment, then quietly pulled it back toward herself. "I'll hold on to it for now. If you ever want it back, I'll give it to you."I didn't argue.After a moment, she looked up. "Did Martin talk to you today?""Yeah.""What did he say?""He said he'd back off if that was what it took for me to come back."Helen gave a bitter little smile. "A while ago, I would've thought that made him a good friend.""And now?""Now it just sounds ridiculous." She tightened her grip on the glass. "We both kept thinking that if Martin backed off a little, that should've been enough for you."She looked at me. "But you were the one who shouldn't have had to keep giving in."

Helen wrote, [I put the ring away today. I won't use it as a reason to reach out anymore.]I stared at the message for a while before replying, [Take care.]She didn't answer.-Six months later, I ran into Helen outside a restaurant.I was there for a business dinner to celebrate wrapping up a project. She looked like she was there for work, too. She wore a black coat, with her hair cut much shorter than before.We stopped a few feet from each other.She smiled first. "Been a while.""Yeah. It has."She looked a little thinner than she had six months ago, but a lot more at peace.She didn't ask if I was seeing anyone, and she didn't ask if I still blamed her. We just talked about work for a few minutes.Before we parted, she said, "I stopped by to see your parents a while back.""Yeah, my mom mentioned it.""She asked why I'd gotten so skinny."Helen smiled, and I smiled, too.After a short silence, she looked at me. "Lawrence, there's something I've thought about a lot