Chapter 2

"You do need some time to cool off."

Something in my nose stung sharp when I heard that.

Everything churned inside me, and I opened my mouth, but I didn't know where to begin.

I went into the bedroom, and Chad followed me in.

"I get it. What happened at the memorial today upset you."

"Don't worry. Once you marry me, you'll get to lead the rites yourself."

He put a teacup in my hand for me to fill, ordering me as if it were only natural.

"I have to fly to L.A. tomorrow for an auction. Remember to book me the earliest flight, and pack my bags."

Then he stretched out on the sofa and flipped through a magazine, at his leisure.

He didn't care whether I agreed or not.

In his eyes, maybe I was more of an assistant than anything.

I pressed his suits one by one, and I tucked his everyday medicines into the case.

"Oh, and one more thing."

His face rose out of the magazine, in a very good mood.

"Pack my dark black overcoat. I hear the weather in L.A. has dropped sharply lately. Olivia never brings anything warm, so I'll bring it for her."

"One time she forgot to pack warm clothes and ran a high fever from the cold."

A smile hung at the corner of his mouth. "That girl. Hopeless."

Watching that smile, memory after memory came flooding back.

Once, to deliver documents for him, I drove through a blizzard, taking risks I shouldn't have.

I got in a car accident on the way.

The whole time I was in the hospital, he never came. Not once.

The blood bank was short, and they didn't recommend transfusions from close relatives.

I remembered Chad had the same blood type as me, and I thought I'd ask him for help.

I called him, and I learned he was with Olivia, who had a fever.

Before I could get a word out, he cut me off.

"Lorraine, I'm very busy right now. You're not a child. Stop always looking for someone to lean on."

Right after that, I hemorrhaged and passed out.

When I woke, I saw my best friend Darlene Fox slumped asleep at the edge of my bed.

My eyes fell on my hand, needle taped in, mottled with bruises, and I reached for my phone through the searing pain.

The pain wrenched a cry out of me and woke Darlene.

She understood what I wanted at once and brought me my phone.

The message screen was empty, and the screen reflected my head still seeping blood through its bandages, and I felt nothing but the sheer irony of it.

Maybe Chad had never had any room for me at all.

His heart had always belonged to another girl. Whoever she was, she wasn't me.

"I don't feel like packing anymore. You—"

The moment I spoke, his attention was pulled to his phone.

His thumbs flew over a reply, and he stood and walked out to the balcony.

He slid the balcony door shut behind him.

I didn't have to guess who was on the other end of that phone.

In the dim light, I saw the faint smile that stayed at the corner of his mouth.

I stared blankly at his back, at that smile, and sank into memory.

Five years ago, at Seaside Plaza, he had hundreds of drones flown into formation to confess to me.

Backlit, smiling, he slid the ring onto my finger.

"Lorraine, I won't make you wait long."

"Once I've finished what the family has charged me with, we'll have a grand wedding. I want to tell the whole world that Lorraine Pruitt has married Chad Gilbert."

"You'll enter the Gilbert family register, and bow before all my Gilbert ancestors."

For that vow, I had grown tired of waiting.

I didn't want to wait anymore. Everything before was like a reflection in water, gone with the passing of time.

I turned and went into the bedroom.

The first thing I saw was our photo together, and now it only stung my eyes.

I gathered up my own things, quick and clean.

So it turned out packing could be this fast.

Before, I was always afraid I'd leave something out for Chad, so I packed with such care.

The balcony door slid open.

Chad couldn't find any flight booked in his name, and he came at me with a frown.

"Why haven't you bought the ticket yet?"

His eyes swept to the case at my side, and his voice went cold and hard.

"Lorraine, what kind of tantrum are you throwing now?"

"You've had a face on all day, like everyone owes you something. Olivia's still walking on eggshells around your moods, afraid she's the one who's upset you."

"She just messaged me," he explained to me patiently, "said that when you and I have our wedding, she wants to be a bridesmaid, that she'll bless us from the heart."

I fixed my eyes on him, my voice giving away nothing.

"And when exactly will that be?"

He froze where he stood.

"Five years ago you promised me. You said once you'd finished what the family charged you with, you and I would marry."

"Under your leadership, Gilbert Group blew past its KPIs long ago."

"You're just stalling, again and again. You don't want to marry me. That's all."

His eyes darted away.

"I've never forgotten my promise to you. But there's a transatlantic project at the company right now, and it can't do without me."

I cut him off.

"Then I won't keep you from running the show."

"Chad, I don't think we're right for each other."

Then I shoved the digital invitation right in front of him.

"One week from now."

"It's my engagement party."