I Spent Six Christmas Eves Waiting For Nothing Chapter 01

I Spent Six Christmas Eves Waiting For Nothing Chapter 01

The countdown began, and as the television blared with holiday cheer, I sat alone in front of a Christmas dinner that had long since gone cold. My eyes were glued to the chat window with my husband.

His last text had been sent five hours ago.

[Garrett: Just wrapped up the meeting. I’m heading straight home to help you make dinner.]

But by the time I finished cooking, the food had lost all its warmth. He never showed up.

Six years of marriage, six Christmas Eves, and not once had he actually been there with me.

Suddenly, a notification popped up. Garrett had dropped a photo into the family group chat.

[Garrett: Don’t worry, everyone. I picked up Chloe safely.]

[Chloe: No need to wait up for me, guys! Garrett is already taking me out to celebrate New Year’s Eve early.]

To be honest, I never understood why she, a complete outsider, was kept in our family group chat in the first place.

Nor did I understand why Garrett insisted on flying across the Atlantic every single year just to spend the holidays with her.

And now, just because Chloe decided on a whim to fly back to New Richmond, Garrett had stood me up yet again, breaking his promise for another holiday.

Without hesitation, I left the group chat.

I reheated the food and ate the Christmas dinner by myself.

It was time to say goodbye to my last holiday in this city.

In two days, I would be taking an overseas transfer to the London office, completely removing myself from Garrett’s life.

…

It was 3:00 AM when Garrett finally made it home.

A young girl’s pastel pink scarf was still draped casually around his neck.

He froze slightly when he saw me sitting there. Stripping off his snow-dampened overcoat, he took off the scarf, carefully folded it, and placed it on the console table before finally speaking. “Why are you still up?”

“I was waiting for you to come home for dinner,” I said quietly.

Garrett walked over to the table and glanced over the spread of dishes.

He picked up a fork, casually taking a bite of meat.

“Tastes good,” he said, setting the fork back down. “But I told you, I wasn’t coming home for dinner.”

My throat tightened, making my voice sound hoarse. “I never got that text.”

“Huh?” Garrett frowned, pulling out his phone.

He scrolled through a massive list of contacts, sliding almost all the way to the very bottom before he finally managed to unearth my name.

“Oh, I lost reception when I was driving through the mountain tunnel,” he said, turning the screen toward me. “Sorry about that. I didn’t notice the message failed to send.”

My gaze drifted downward. First, it landed on the contact name he had assigned to me.

Just a single, clinical word: [Elena].

Only then did I look at the undelivered text.

[Garrett: Chloe just told me she’s flying back into the city. I’m heading to the airport to pick her up, so don’t wait up for me for dinner.]

“Garrett, this was Christmas dinner. It’s different,” I said, lifting my eyes to meet his.

Garrett’s eyebrows knitted together.

He looked at the screen, then back at me, his face practically screaming: I already told you what happened, what more do you want from me?

I was truly hitting my limit.

“We’re supposed to be together on the holidays,” I said, my voice shaking. “Otherwise, what’s the point of calling ourselves a family?”

“And you explicitly promised me—”

Before I could finish, his phone buzzed to life.

The caller ID flashed across the screen: [The Princess].

Chloe again.

Garrett raised a finger to his lips, gesturing for me to be quiet, then turned and walked out onto the balcony to answer it.

The two of them talked for nearly half an hour.

By the time he finally hung up and walked back inside, he looked at me blankly. “What were you saying earlier?”

A wave of absolute exhaustion washed over me.

“Nothing,” I said flatly. “Go get some rest.”