After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 08

After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 08

The next day, for the first time in ages, Noah didn’t go to the office. Instead, he announced that he was giving us a “family surprise day.”

He booked an entire exhibition area at the Boston Children’s Museum and held a private party there for just the three of us. The space had been decorated in Lily’s favorite fairy-tale theme. Huge stuffed animals were piled everywhere, and the air floated with the sweet scent of cotton candy.

Noah behaved like an impeccable father. He climbed up and down the giant slide with Lily, patiently taught her to build a Lego castle, and even remembered to have a server bring my favorite Earl Grey tea.

He sat across from me and brought up memories from when we first met at Harvard.

“Do you remember, Ava? The first time I saw you in Widener Library, you were stressing out over an art history paper. You’d stacked your books into a mountain.”

Faced with this sudden tenderness and nostalgia, I felt deeply uncomfortable. I could only pick up my teacup to hide my unease.

“You’re… very different today.”

“I just want you and Lily to be happy,” he said, looking at me with eyes that seemed completely sincere. “I know I’ve missed too many family events lately. And there will be another surprise soon.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights in the hall suddenly dimmed.

Noah pressed a remote control, and the ceiling instantly transformed into a deep night sky. Countless stars shimmered overhead, and artificial meteors streaked across from time to time. Lily gave an excited cry and tipped her little face up, staring without blinking.

The artificial starry sky was dazzling and magnificent, so beautiful it stole the breath.

I looked at Noah’s profile, softened by the dim light, and some frozen corner of my heart seemed to loosen slightly.

“Did you arrange all this?” I asked softly.

Before Noah could answer, the door to the exhibition hall was pushed open with a bang.

Harsh light flooded in. Sloane swept into the room with a group of exquisitely made-up socialites. Several women in front held their phones high, flashlights aimed at us as they recorded.

“Ava, are you satisfied with today’s date?” Sloane’s voice was full of undisguised pride and showy triumph. “This was a surprise I planned so carefully. Aren’t you moved?”

At that familiar, grating tone, the trace of warmth that had just appeared on my face froze instantly. Lily was frightened by the scene and instinctively hid in my arms.

I ignored Sloane and stared hard at Noah. I asked the question again, my voice trembling this time, beyond my control.

“Did you arrange all this?”

Noah seemed completely unaware of the collapse in my tone. He didn’t even look at me. Instead, he turned toward Sloane with a smile, pleased to share the credit.

“Of course not. Sloane helped me come up with the idea. She said this would give you and Lily an unforgettable day.”

Sloane’s smile grew even brighter. She walked to Noah’s side and intimately linked her arm through his, announcing to everyone like a hostess, “That’s right. I heard from Noah that he had been making you unhappy lately, so I gave him this idea. The VIP access to the museum, the fairy-tale decorations, the Earl Grey you drank, even this starry-sky projection… I helped him decide every detail.”

She paused, then her gaze landed on the dark green jewelry box I had casually placed on the entry cabinet the day before. She delivered the fatal blow.

“Oh, and did you receive that Van Cleef & Arpels necklace? I spent ages helping Noah choose it on Newbury Street. I thought the lucky meaning of the four-leaf clover suited you.”

So all of this had been arranged by Sloane. Again.

No wonder Noah had been so proactive, so “perfect.”

In an instant, I remembered the things Sloane had done in college to bring us together.

She had told Noah to buy my favorite white roses, take me for walks along the Charles, send me goodnight texts at the same time every day. Like a robot with programmed instructions, he carried out every command meticulously. Even when he confessed his love to me at the graduation ball, his tone had been stiff and unfamiliar.

The socialites around us burst into admiration, praising Sloane for her “high EQ,” her “grace,” calling her practically “Boston’s best ex.”

Listening to those piercing compliments, I was drowned by a bottomless helplessness.

Sloane had planned all this not to make amends, but to prove one thing to me.

From the start of our relationship, to the countless “surprises” and “romantic gestures” in between, to this absurd “family day” today… none of it had ever been up to me. My life was only a role in her script.

From beginning to end, everything had been in Sloane’s hands.

I could only passively accept it.

And Noah, my husband, was always perfectly willing.