Chapter 2

On the way there, Nellie Henson was waiting anxiously at the door.

She had on a fitted red dress tonight, her makeup just as carefully done.

The moment she saw it was me, she hurried over and hooked her arm through mine.

"Lindy, we've all been waiting for you. Come on, come on."

She dragged me forward, unable to wait a second longer.

The doors swung open, and with a bang, confetti rained down over Nellie and me.

Standing there side by side, you couldn't tell which of us was supposed to be the star of the night.

The mood lights in the room came up right on cue.

Under that soft, romantic glow, I looked at Cole standing across the room.

He wore a white suit, a huge bouquet of red roses in his arms.

Every inch the devoted man.

My heart betrayed me, thudding hard against my ribs.

I pressed a hand over it, and despite everything, a flicker of hope I hadn't felt in a long time rose up in me.

Maybe he was just playing a prank. Maybe he only wanted to scare me. Maybe...

I watched him walk slowly toward me.

Under the cheering, egging-on stares of the whole crowd.

And then he handed that bouquet of roses to Nellie, standing right beside me.

In an instant the crowd went dead silent, and so did my hand, half-lifted in the air.

Those secret little hopes split open in midair like soap bubbles.

Cole dropped to one knee, a smile playing at his lips.

"Nellie, I love you. Will you marry me?"

I curled my hand back in and couldn't lie to myself anymore.

The whole room was utterly quiet.

Lambert slipped up beside me without a sound, pressed a hand on my shoulder, and said softly,

"Ma'am, going by how he's acting, it looks like Cole's lost his memory again."

"Let's not set him off. Let him finish the whole thing, and once he gets his memory back, the guys and I will help the two of you set the place up properly."

Amnesia.

What a ridiculous, absurd lie.

And yet it had fooled me, over and over.

Something clogged my chest, tight enough to leave me short of breath and shaking inside.

I turned my head and quietly watched the two of them look at each other.

This proposal venue, I had set it up myself.

The photos hanging in the air, I had chosen every one of them, one by one.

Each of them proof that I hadn't given up.

And now here he was, on the venue I'd built with my own hands, holding the roses I'd picked myself, proposing to someone else.

I couldn't stop the laugh rising in me.

But the tears fell first.

"Cole, did you really lose your memory?"

His body stiffened for a moment.

The next instant he frowned at me, his tone weary.

"Lindsay, how many times do I have to say it? Nellie is my girlfriend."

"Today is the day I propose to her. Could you please stop causing trouble?"

My nails dug hard into my palm as I swallowed down the taste of blood climbing my throat.

And then I really laughed.

"Fine."

"Cole, let's break up."

Everyone traded glances.

Lambert answered weakly at my side.

"Lindy, he doesn't remember you right now. Don't be angry."

Others were happy to watch the drama grow.

"Cole's lost his memory, just let it slide."

"Once he remembers, everything will be fine."

"Right, he's forgotten so many times by now, you should be used to it."

A flicker of irritation crossed Cole's eyes too.

But he didn't so much as glance at me. He took out the diamond ring he'd had ready all along and held it up high.

"Baby, will you marry me?"

A wave of cheering broke out from the crowd.

"Marry him, marry him."

Nellie flushed at the teasing and gave a shy nod.

The huge diamond ring slid slowly onto her finger and settled, perfectly snug, on her ring finger.

Not too big, not too small. Just right.

My palm was slick and sticky, but what hurt more than my palm was my heart.

Nellie's ring size was one size smaller than mine.

Cole had always known.

From the very beginning, the star of this proposal was never me.

My eyes swept over everyone in the room. Their gazes were all fixed on the two of them.

Not one of them spared me a second look.

As if my presence were nothing but a meaningless backdrop.

I lowered my eyes and opened my palm, already gone red.

The strength that had been holding me up scattered all at once.

I took two small steps back, turned, and walked out.

Behind me the cheering grew louder and louder.

But none of it had anything to do with me anymore.

On the way back, I took out my phone and dialed that familiar number.

"Dad, I was wrong. What you told me back then, that was the truth."

"In three days, I'll cut it all off and come home to marry."