Chapter 1 - The Coward’s Departure
Denise’s face was the color of old ash.
She wasn’t crying, but her hands were shaking so violently that the screen of her phone blurred as she held it out to me. She didn't say a word. She didn't have to. The glowing screen told the entire story in the space of a single, devastating Instagram post.
It was a photo from the Springfield Regional Airport.
There was Melissa, wearing the same clothes she had worn at my dining room table the night before, leaning against Ryan’s chest. Ryan’s arm was wrapped tightly around her waist. They were smiling at the camera, holding two boarding passes to Las Vegas.
The caption read: Sometimes, true love means breaking the rules. Boarding a plane with my soulmate. Next stop: Forever. ✈️💍
The timestamp was from twenty minutes ago.
While I had been standing in my kitchen, touching the empty ring box and imagining the rest of my life, my fiancé and my best friend were taking off to elope.
I did not scream. I did not collapse onto the linoleum floor.
I took the phone from Denise, stared at the photo for exactly five seconds, and then handed it back. A strange, glacial calm washed over me. It was the absolute clarity that only comes when a bomb goes off and you realize you are miraculously still standing.
"Denise," I said, my voice completely stripped of emotion. "Cancel the caterer. Cancel the florist. Tell the guests the wedding is off."
"Claire..." Denise whispered, tears finally spilling over her lashes. "What are you going to do?"
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"I am going to pack a bag," I replied.
I didn't stay in Springfield to answer the pitying text messages. I didn't stay to listen to Ryan's mother apologize. I packed my car, transferred my savings to a new account, and left the city before the sun went down.
