Chapter 5 - The Return of a Man Too Late
On day thirty, Ethan appeared outside Clare’s apartment.
He stood in the hallway holding a bouquet of peonies.
For a moment, she simply looked at him through the peephole.
He looked tired.
His eyes were shadowed. His beard had grown in unevenly. He wore the same navy coat he had worn to the bridal boutique, but now it hung loosely from his shoulders.
Clare opened the door only halfway.
“Hi,” he said.
“Why are you here?”
“To talk.”
“We had thirty days for that.”
“I know.”
He looked down at the flowers.
“Sophie left for Seattle this morning.”
Clare said nothing.
“I ended it,” Ethan continued. “I realized I was chasing an old version of myself. I thought I needed to know what could have happened, but all I learned was that I don’t want that life.”
“And what life do you want?”
He looked at her.
“You.”
The answer might have broken her once.
Now it only made her tired.
“You wanted thirty days with Sophie,” Clare said. “You got them.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You made a choice.”
“Clare, please. I know I hurt you. I know I was selfish. But we have five years together.”
“Yes,” she said softly. “And I spent too much of those five years trying to convince you that I was enough.”
His eyes filled with panic.
“You are enough.”
“But you did not act like you believed that.”
He stepped closer. “I love you.”
Clare looked at the peonies.
He remembered that they were her favorite flower.
He had remembered now, when it cost him nothing but money.
“You don’t love me the way I need to be loved,” she said.
“I can change.”
“Maybe you can.”
Hope flashed across his face.
“But you do not get to practice becoming better on me.”
Ethan’s hand tightened around the flowers.
“What about the wedding?”
“It’s still happening.”
His face froze.
“You can’t be serious.”
“I am.”
“With who?”
Clare smiled slightly.
“I haven’t decided what I want to call him yet.”
Ethan stared at her.
Then his expression shifted from pleading to anger.
“So this is revenge.”
“No.”
“You met someone.”
“I met myself again.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“It does when you’ve spent years disappearing for another person.”
Ethan’s voice rose. “You’re going to humiliate me in front of everyone.”
Clare’s eyes hardened.
“You humiliated yourself when you held Sophie’s hand in my dress fitting and asked me to wait.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he placed the peonies on the floor.
“I thought you would forgive me.”
“I did forgive you,” Clare said. “I’m just not marrying you.”
Ethan turned and walked down the hallway.
He did not look back.
Clare closed the door, leaned against it, and let herself cry.
Not because she regretted her decision.
Because endings hurt even when they save you.
That evening, Daniel called.
“You sound like you’ve had a difficult day,” he said.
“I have.”
“Do you want company?”
Clare looked around her quiet apartment.
For the first time, she did not want to be alone.
“Yes,” she said.
Daniel arrived with takeout soup, warm bread, and no questions she was not ready to answer.
They sat on the floor of her living room.
At one point, Daniel reached for her hand.
May you like
Clare let him.
And it felt nothing like waiting.
