After He Left Me Behind, My Wedding Ring Changed Hands Chapter 03

After He Left Me Behind, My Wedding Ring Changed Hands Chapter 03

That evening, my parents told me to go home. There was no need for me to stay at the hospital overnight.

By the time I dragged myself home and opened the door, every light in the place was on, and I could hear a man and a woman laughing inside.

When I saw Elise sitting on the couch with one of my throw pillows hugged against her, I froze.

Reid didn’t even look up at me as he casually explained, “I forgot to tell you. Elise doesn’t have anyone to take care of her, so she’ll be staying here with us for a while.”

Elise ate the piece of fruit he was holding out to her, then smiled at me.

“Sorry to impose for the next few days, Mara. You don’t mind, do you?”

I took a deep breath and forced down the emotions surging inside me.

“If I do, will you get the hell out?”

Elise’s smile froze.

“Mara!”

Reid spun around. He finally looked me straight in the eye, only to snap at me.

“Why do you have to be so snide all the time? Why should everyone else have to put up with your attitude?”

I met his impatient stare.

“Why don’t you ask where I’ve been for the last two days?”

His brows drew together.

“Fine. Where were you?”

I opened my mouth, then stopped.

I looked at the man I had chased for so long, the man I had wanted so badly that I had even let my own parents be treated poorly just so I could stay with him.

I suddenly felt like an idiot, and I had no desire to explain anything anymore.

Forget it.

“Nowhere important. Let her stay. She can stay as long as she wants.”

I was tired. I didn’t want to keep fighting with him.

Late that night, the space beside me was empty while Reid and Elise watched a movie in another room.

Reid sounded resigned. “If horror movies scare you that much, why do you keep watching them?”

Elise answered plaintively, “Because I’m too scared to watch them alone. While I’m staying here, I want to catch up on all the ones I’ve been wanting to see.”

After a moment, Reid said, “I’m here. I’ll watch them with you.”

My hand jerked while I was changing my dressing in the bathroom, and the swab jabbed the wound left by the explosion, sending a sharp stab of pain through me.

It passed quickly.

I went to bed, and Reid came in a little while later.

After lying down beside me, he asked, puzzled, “Why does it smell like medicine in here?”

I closed my eyes. My voice was completely flat.

“You’re imagining it.”

He accepted that without question. He hadn’t really been concerned in the first place, so he didn’t ask again.

If he had bothered to glance at the trash can beside the bed, he would have seen the bloodstained gauze inside.

The next morning, voices outside woke me up.

When I walked out, I found Reid’s parents there.

They were gathered around Elise, fussing over her with obvious affection.

“How did you even end up in a car accident? You need to be more careful.”

“And if you ever need anything, just call Reid. He knows better than to say no when I’m around.”

Reid smiled warmly from beside them.

“Yeah, I know. I can’t say no to either of you.”

Elise looked pleased and a little shy.

In all five years Reid and I had been together, his parents had never once treated me with that kind of warmth. All I had ever gotten from them was polite small talk.

I didn’t go over.

There was no point making myself miserable. I would be gone in a few days anyway.

But the moment I turned away, Elise called after me.

“Mara, you’re up!”

I stiffened, but I had no choice except to walk over.

The instant Reid’s mother saw me, the smile vanished from her face. She looked me up and down with open disapproval.

“Elise is recovering from an accident and she can still get up early. You, on the other hand, sleep in till almost noon every day?”

“That’s no way to behave. Maybe you and Reid ought to—”

“Mom.”

Reid cut her off, lips pressed into a thin line, then walked toward me.

“Breakfast?”

I shook my head.

“No, thanks. You guys eat.”

The explosion had left me with minor internal injuries, and the doctor had told me not to eat first thing in the morning for at least a month.

His mother immediately found something else to criticize.

“Fine, don’t eat. No one should have to beg you just to come to breakfast. You’re unbelievably lazy. How are you ever going to take care of Reid?”

I took a deep breath.

I didn’t want to start a fight with them, but I wasn’t going to stand there and let them lecture me either.

I walked straight out.

Reid followed and grabbed my arm.

“My mom was only trying to show she cares. Why do you have to be so ungrateful and just walk out?”

I was silent for a moment.

“She cares?”

If she actually cared, why hadn’t she told Reid that I never showed up at his parents’ place over Labor Day weekend?

If she cared, she should have wondered where I was.

Reid looked down at me, his impatience becoming more obvious by the second.

“Mara, you’re going to be my wife. I need you to stop being so emotional.”

“If you walk out like this, Elise is going to think she’s causing problems between us, and now my mom’s upset too.”

“Be more mature.”

I pulled my arm free.

I had spent years trying to be mature.

So when Reid and Elise blurred every boundary and called it friendship, I tried to be mature and told myself not to read into it.

When his mother looked down on me, I tried to be mature and bent over backward to win her approval.

But now, I didn’t want to anymore.

“What exactly counts as mature?”

He thought about it for a moment.

“Elise is. Try being more like her.”

I scoffed and walked away.

After Mom was discharged, I picked up my parents and drove them home. On the way, I told them I was leaving that day.

Mom stared at me in surprise.

“Today? Already?”

I nodded.

“For two years.”