He Canceled Our Wedding 18 TIMES for His Bestie Chapter 09

He Canceled Our Wedding 18 TIMES for His Bestie Chapter 09

The next morning, I opened my door.

It hit something solid.

Griffin had apparently slept in the hallway all night. Jolted awake by the sound of the door, he scrambled to get up, but his stiff limbs wouldn’t move. He stumbled and fell back to the floor.

He just managed to drag himself out of the way, clearing a path for me.

I looked down at him, stone-cold. “Why did you sit out here all night? Are you trying to guilt me into forgiving you?”

He flinched like I’d burned him, shaking his head fast.

“No. That’s not… no.”

“I just want to make things right. I know I hurt you more than I can ever say. But at least at least

give me a chance to try…”

I knew exactly what he was really saying.

He wasn’t going anywhere.

He wanted to patch up the wreckage of this relationship with apologies and do-overs.

But I was done putting up with it.

Old wounds belong buried deep in the past.

Not dragged out over and over, forced to remember how much they still sting.

As I walked past him, I glanced back and smiled. “Ten o’clock tonight. The garden restaurant.”

“If you’re not late, I’ll give you a chance.”

His dead eyes sparked back to life. He stared at me like he couldn’t believe it.

I didn’t say another word. Just turned and headed to work.

This time, there was no shadow trailing behind me.

The busy workweek slipped by quickly.

Even though I hadn’t seen Griffin all day, I could picture exactly what he was doing right now. was fixing himself up like his whole life depended on it.

A man dying of thirst in the desert is greedy when he finally spots an oasis.

Hey.

Kind of like the old me, the one who practiced wedding lines over and over, convinced that if I just

tried a little harder, happiness was right around the corner.

But it was always just a pipe dream.

By seven in the evening, Griffin had transformed. He looked like his old polished self again-slick

haircut, tailored suit, crisp and clean.

He bought a bouquet of tulips-my favorite-and waited, heart pounding, for fate to finally cut him

a break.

But he couldn’t even last an hour. His nerves got the better of him, and he headed to that garden

restaurant too early.

On the way, he ran through his opening lines in his head, practicing his smile.

More nervous, more intense, than all those wedding rehearsals put together.

He was going to nail this, pulling off a perfect reconciliation dinner.

He walked through the restaurant doors, beaming.

And then he froze.

I was sitting across from a man. Dinner was almost over.

The smile vanished from his face. He didn’t even notice the tulips slip from his hand.

He stood there, a few tables away, looking like a kicked puppy.

“Sandra… why?”

I wiped a smudge from the corner of my mouth. “You’re late.”

He pointed at the clock on the wall, like I’d just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

“But it’s only eight. We said ten…”

Before he could finish, my colleague cut in. “Ten o’clock? What, you want her to starve?”

That’s when it hit Griffin.

I’d tricked him.

Just like he used to trick me.

I spoke softly, almost gently. “So you can tell time after all.”

“But what difference does it make, Griffin? It’s too late.”

“The moment you watched Mirabelle steal my cue and canceled our wedding without a second thought, you lost your chance.”

I stood up, settled the bill with my colleague, and walked out.

Griffin stayed rooted to the spot. Tears dropped onto the floor, one after another.

He was crying like he’d lost everything.

And I knew he wouldn’t follow.

I thanked my colleague, and we parted ways.

I stepped out into the deep, dark night.

Looked up.

The snow that had been falling for seven years had finally stopped.