Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN WHO WOULDN'T BE HIS SECOND CHOICE
Three days after the wedding, Camille sent me a message.
Madison, I never meant to hurt you.
I stared at the screen.
Then another message appeared.
Everett and I have a complicated history.
I laughed bitterly.
Complicated.
That word had been used to excuse everything.
The late-night calls.
The private lunches.
The emergencies.
The money.
The wedding.
I didn't respond.
Instead, I went to work.
At the pediatric urgent-care center, children didn't care about my canceled wedding.
They cared about fevers.
Broken fingers.
Ear infections.
And whether the stickers at the nurses' station were dinosaurs or unicorns.
I loved them for that.
At noon, a little girl named Emma looked at my bare ring finger.
“Where's your shiny ring?”
I froze.
Her mother looked embarrassed.
“Emma—”
I smiled gently.
“I decided not to wear it anymore.”
Emma frowned.
“Why?”
I thought for a moment.
Then said:
“Because sometimes grown-ups change their minds.”
Emma considered that.
Then nodded.
“Like when I don't want broccoli.”
I laughed.
“Exactly.”
That evening, Kelsey came over carrying takeout.
She found me sitting on the floor surrounded by wedding decorations.
“What are you doing?”
“Sorting.”
She looked around.
“Into what?”
“Donate. Return. Throw away.”
Kelsey smiled.
“Good system.”
We spent three hours packing boxes.
Then Kelsey found a framed photograph.
Everett and me.
At our engagement party.
He was kissing my forehead.
I was smiling.
She looked at it.
“Want me to throw this away?”
I hesitated.
Then shook my head.
“No.”
Kelsey frowned.
“Why?”
I took the photograph.
“Because I was happy that day.”
My eyes filled.
“And I don't want to pretend I wasn't.”
She sat beside me.
I continued.
“Not everything was a lie.”
Kelsey nodded.
“No.”
I looked down.
“But it wasn't enough.”
That night, I placed the photograph in a box.
Not on display.
May you like
Not destroyed.
Just part of a past I no longer wanted to live inside.
