Chapter 4

On the wedding day, the friends who had once come to my celebration with Nat all showed up.

They gathered around Mia, handing over their wedding-night gifts.

"Mia, congratulations to you and Nat. Two people meant for each other, finally together!"

"Right? Watching the wrong answer get corrected feels so good!"

"You have no idea how much we've all had to swallow these past few years!"

Someone's eyes flicked toward me, the tone thick with mockery.

"Anyone with eyes could see it back then. The one Nat loved was Mia."

"And then someone waited until the two of them had a falling-out and turned right around to marry the man her best friend loved. Truly disgusting."

The smile drained from Mia's face, her brows knitting as she cut them off.

"Are you all drunk before you've even had a drink?"

"If you keep talking nonsense, don't blame me for turning cold on you."

Their expressions stiffened, then they laughed it off and drifted out of the dressing room, putting on a show for the makeup artist.

"Do our bride and bridesmaid up nice. We're going to get some killer photos later!"

The makeup artist nodded with a smile and went to fetch the hairpins.

Mia, in her wedding gown, the wound on her back already scabbed over, looked at me with reddened eyes.

"Gerry, I know I've wronged you."

"But love isn't something you can control. I couldn't just treat Nat like he was invisible."

"After tonight, I'll leave this place. You and he can have a good life together."

She held my hand, her voice earnest.

"We said it, didn't we? That we'd witness each other's happiest moments."

"So this wedding, you won't blame me for it, will you?"

I looked at the red string on her wrist, the one my mother had braided by hand, and my lips curved.

"I did say that."

"But I never said it would be over the same man."

Just as I moved to pull my hand free, she toppled backward without warning, her back slamming into the corner of the table, and the scabbed wound split open, blood seeping through at once.

I reached out on instinct, but Nat came rushing in from outside.

"Mia! Are you all right?"

Mia shook her head and gripped his hand.

"Don't blame Gerry. She just loves you too much. She got a little worked up."

Nat shot me a hard glare.

"Look at what point we're at, and you're still defending her."

Watching him shield her as they walked out, I forced the explanation stuck in my throat back down.

Maybe to get even for Mia, Nat piled a mountain of petty, pointless tasks on me.

In my heels, I ran back and forth until my ankles were rubbed raw and bloody.

Half an hour before the ceremony, I was locked in the utility closet.

I tried to smash the lock and realized the door was being braced shut from the outside.

I pulled out my phone to call for help, but there was no signal.

I set the stool on the table and leaned my upper body out the window.

The moment a signal appeared, a call came through.

"Ms. Simmons, I finally reached you."

"I have some very unfortunate news. Please stay calm."

"Your grandmother passed away half an hour ago. A brain hemorrhage. They couldn't save her."

The world went black in front of me, my head spinning in waves.

"Are you sure there hasn't been a mistake? I went to see her just yesterday, and she was perfectly fine!"

The voice on the line explained with regret.

"This morning a local delivery came in. The courier said it was an old film her granddaughter had specially tracked down."

"The old lady only watched two minutes of it before she was gone..."

Grief crushed the breath out of me, and yet Nat's messages came flooding in one after another.

"Geraldine, I'm warning you, don't try anything!"

"The bridesmaid's speech is coming up any minute!"

A single yellowed leaf drifted down from the air, and smiling, I threw myself from the window.

Nat, who had come storming up the stairs looking for me, glanced over, and his pupils shrank all at once.

"Gerry, no!"