Chapter 1 - THE BRIDE LEFT ON THE SIDEWALK
The limousine disappeared around the corner.
Clare Bennett stood on the Boston sidewalk in her wedding gown, watching the white ribbons flutter out of sight.
For a few seconds, she didn't move.
The black sedan waited twenty feet away.
Its driver stood beside the passenger door, looking increasingly uncomfortable.
“Miss Bennett?”
Clare turned.
“Yes?”
“Would you like me to take your bags?”
She looked at the small overnight case beside her.
Then at the empty street.
Then at the place where Ethan had been standing.
“No,” she said.
The driver hesitated.
“Your fiancé said I should take you to the Hawthorne Hotel.”
Clare looked at him.
“Did he?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
She almost laughed.
Of course he had.
Ethan had arranged everything.
The cars.
The schedule.
The seating.
The wedding ceremony.
Even the moment she was supposed to arrive.
He had simply forgotten to arrange a place for her in his priorities.
Clare reached for the pearl buttons at her wrist.
Her hands were shaking.
“What's your name?”
“Michael, ma'am.”
“Michael, I'm going to ask you something.”
“Of course.”
“If you were getting married today, would you give your wedding car to another woman?”
The driver's face changed.
He glanced toward the road.
Then answered carefully.
“No, ma'am.”
Clare nodded.
“Thank you.”
She reached into her small satin purse.
Her engagement ring was a three-carat diamond set in platinum.
Ethan had proposed eighteen months earlier at a restaurant overlooking Boston Harbor.
She remembered the champagne.
The applause.
The way he'd slipped the ring onto her finger before she'd finished saying yes.
Now she slowly removed it.
The diamond caught the morning light.
For a moment, Clare remembered every excuse she'd made for him.
Vanessa's just a friend.
She's practically family.
You're overthinking.
Don't make everything about you.
Clare closed her fingers around the ring.
Then looked at Michael.
“Please take me to the hotel.”
The driver nodded.
“Of course.”
She climbed into the plain black sedan.
And as they pulled away, Clare took out her phone.
She opened Ethan's contact.
Typed six words.
May you like
There will be no wedding tonight.
Then she pressed send.
