Chapter 1

"Can you take the train down tomorrow morning? Kirsten Gilbert's coming back from out of town for the wedding, and I need to go pick her up."

Amos Henson said it over the phone like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.

I held my phone and sat there for two seconds, blank.

"What bride takes the train to her own wedding?"

He laughed. "Ours does. Come on, be good. Just this once."

"She's the child of an old friend. I can't very well not look after her."

The background was loud. Someone was laughing, a car horn was blaring.

Someone called his name, and he added in a rush, "The motorcade's amazing. You'll see tomorrow," and hung up.

I didn't call back.

I scrolled up through our old messages.

In three months, he'd only reached out to me about one thing.

【It's Kirsten's birthday. What should I get her?】

I turned my phone off.

Near dawn, I bought a train ticket to Harbor City.

1.

I got on the train in my wedding dress.

I knew how strange I looked to everyone else.

To ignore the odd stares, I picked up my phone and scrolled through social media.

Half an hour ago, Kirsten had posted.

【Out with the boys picking up the bride today. The AC is a lifesaver.】

Two photos.

One was of her and Amos in the wedding car, a car decked with the double-happiness sign behind them.

The other was a Maybach leading the procession, with a long line of luxury cars behind it.

From the way the Maybach was decorated, it was the lead car.

The motorcade Amos had put together really was something. You couldn't look away from it.

The comments were all agreement.

【Oh my god, the campus queen and king, together at last.】

【The campus king dumped that ugly thing? Finally...】

【So beautiful, Kirsten.】

Such a lovely, harmonious picture.

I pinched the edge of my phone, my breathing went a little heavy, my chest tight.

I tapped save on the photos without thinking.

Amos called almost right away.

I swallowed the flutter in my chest and answered. "What is it?"

His low voice came through. "Did you leave yet?"

"Yeah."

"Kirsten wants to ride in my car. You know what she's been through. It's going to be hard for her to ever marry, so she wants to know what it feels like to ride in a wedding car."

Something twisted in me. "But this is our wedding."

"Don't be so petty. We'll have plenty of chances later."

"The cars in the garage, take any of them you want."

He hung up again before I could get a word in.

I pressed my lips together, my eyes stinging a little.

Seven years together. I'd been the one to propose, and now, somehow, even the marriage was on his terms.

"Mommy, why is that lady in a wedding dress on the train? Where's the groom?"

"When Brother got married there were so many fancy cars. It was so grand."

The little voice piped up beside me, and I turned to look.

A small girl was watching me, wide-eyed and innocent. The words cut a little, but children say what they see.

I managed a smile. The girl's mother quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Of course the lady has her own reasons for taking the train. Don't say silly things. Tell the lady congratulations."

She looked at me, apologetic. "Kids don't know any better."

The girl shrank at her mother's scolding, then said to me in a small voice, "Congratulations, miss. I hope you're happy forever."

I smiled and nodded. "It's all right. Thank you for the kind words, sweetheart. I will be happy."

Then I glanced at the girl's mother and asked, "Would you mind filming a short video for me? I'd like to remember this."

She nodded without hesitation. "Of course."

I took out my camera and handed it to her, held a few poses, and let her film a few clips.

"There," she said.

I thanked her, took the camera back, and looked down at the photos, drifting off for a moment.

The woman sounded puzzled. "A day this important, and your husband isn't with you?"

I came back to myself, turned to her, and the corners of my mouth lifted. "He does special work. He couldn't come get me."

She nodded like she half understood. "Oh. My old man's the same. Special forces. Just seeing him once is so hard."

I curved my lips. Amos was busier than any soldier.

"Yeah. Thank you."

I set the camera down and drifted off again.

After a while, I took out my phone.

Someone had posted the video of me on the train in my wedding dress to one of the short-video apps. It was spreading at an alarming rate, the likes and comments climbing without stopping.

Before long someone forwarded the link into the group chat.

The group blew up in an instant.

【Oh my god, does Cecilia Bishop love Amos that much? Amos tells her to take the train and she just takes the train. Tsk tsk.】

【Amos, I'm telling you, that woman's latched onto you for life.】

Everyone in the group was talking over each other, completely forgetting I was there.

It was a group they'd made a while back.

Kirsten had quietly added me. Nobody knew that account was mine.

Usually the group was dead quiet. Today, all at once, they'd gone off like they were possessed, stomping all over me.

If not for today, I never would have known how little they thought of me.

I looked at the names. All familiar.

To my face it was all his wife this, his wife that. Behind my back I was a pathetic doormat.

I opened the video they'd forwarded and watched it. Set to some mood-heavy background music, it really did make me look like a lovesick fool chasing after true love.

The comments were a pile-on.

Some cursing me, some defending me.

【Is this woman insane? Wearing her own wedding dress to get married by herself? She doesn't even value her own wedding, no wonder people look down on her.】

【The guy doesn't really want to marry her either, or why would he leave her to take the train alone?】

Everyone yapping at once, all of them taking a bite out of me.

I drew a deep breath and typed one line into the group. 【This angle actually makes me look pretty good. Don't you think, darling?】

I tagged Amos when I sent it.

The group went silent in an instant.