Chapter 2

The next morning, my parents called.

They said everyone finally understood they’d gone too far and wanted to apologize properly.

At the same hotel.

I wasn’t expecting much. I mostly wanted to hand over the apartment keys, settle whatever was left on the lease, and maybe hear my mom say she was sorry without adding a “but” afterward.

When I got there, the ballroom was covered in flowers.

There was a sign outside the doors.

DANIEL BROOKS & HAILEY REED

I stopped walking.

Hailey was standing at the end of an aisle in a white wedding dress.

Daniel was beside her in the suit I’d helped him pick out.

Even the tie was mine.

He’d bought it months ago and told me he was saving the whole outfit for our anniversary because he wanted to look good when he proposed.

Now he was wearing it for her.

My mom stood beside Hailey, fastening a strand of pearls around her neck.

I knew those pearls.

They’d belonged to my grandmother.

Mom had always said I’d wear them on my wedding day.

Dad was waiting near the aisle like he was about to walk Hailey down it.

And half our friends already had their phones out.

Pointed at me.

That was when I got it.

This wasn’t an apology.

They wanted another reaction.

Daniel came over and lowered his voice.

“This isn’t another prank.”

I looked past him at Hailey in the dress.

“Sure doesn’t look like an apology.”

“Just tell me you don’t want to lose me. In front of everyone. Then we stop.”

I stared at him.

“You’re serious?”

“Erin, come on. You know I’m not actually marrying her.”

Hailey came over and wrapped both hands around his arm.

Her eyes were already shiny.

“I just wanted to know if I mattered to you too,” she said. “If this is really upsetting you that much, I can leave.”

She didn’t move.

I looked at her dress again.

Then I recognized it.

I’d tried on the exact same style months ago.

Daniel had looked at me in it and shrugged.

“It’s kind of plain.”

Now Hailey turned slightly toward him.

He smiled.

“You actually look like a bride.”

I almost laughed.

An officiant stepped up front and started telling everyone how Daniel and Hailey had “found their way to each other.”

Except the stories weren’t theirs.

The rainy night Daniel and I first met.

The restaurant from our first date.

The sunflowers he brought me afterward.

Even the trip to see the northern lights we’d been talking about for years.

They took seven years of my life and handed it to Hailey like it was part of the entertainment.

Someone near the back called out, “Erin’s gonna lose it any second.”

Another person laughed.

“She’s not letting seven years go that easily.”

Daniel glanced at me.

He still thought I was waiting for the right moment to stop them.

The officiant raised the microphone.

“Daniel, do you take Hailey—”

Daniel didn’t answer right away.

He looked straight at me.

The whole room did.

They were waiting for me to cry.

To run up there.

To tell him I still wanted him.

I stayed where I was.

Daniel’s jaw tightened.

I could practically see him thinking, Any second now.

The officiant cleared his throat and tried again.

“Daniel?”

He was still looking at me.

I folded my arms.

And waited with everyone else.