We Promised to Wait for Everyone—But No One Waited for Me Chapter 04

We Promised to Wait for Everyone—But No One Waited for Me Chapter 04

I picked up Miles’s phone from the coffee table.

It was unlocked. He never locked it.

He’d once said, “Look whenever you want. I’ve got nothing to hide from you.”

The screen opened right onto the messages.

At the very top, pinned, was a group called “Josie’s Plan.”

Four people in it. Not me.

Miles reached to stop me, but I’d already opened the chat.

My fingertip slid up the screen, reading message after message.

Last Tuesday, 9 p.m.

Miles: [Her design boards on the desk are really good. They’ve been sitting there for days and she hasn’t touched them.]

Wesley: [Josie’s always wanted into the campaign shortlist. Submit them, they’ll get in for sure.]

Josie: [Really? What if Delaney finds out?]

Wesley: [She hasn’t touched them in days. She probably won’t use them anyway.]

Dawson: [Ha. A heist.]

Miles: [Still, better not let her know. You know how she is. If she finds out, she’ll make a scene.]

I scrolled on.

Thursday, 2 p.m.

Josie: [I finally submitted it!]

Wesley: [Waiting for good news.]

Miles: Nice work. Let’s find a time to celebrate. Just don’t invite Delaney, or she’ll ask a million questions.]

Dawson: [Agreed.]

Friday, 4 p.m.

Josie: [It passed! First round passed!]

Wesley: [That’s our Josie. She’s going places.]

Miles: [Congrats. Perfect timing, we can celebrate tonight. Delaney said she’s working late, so we won’t wait for her for dinner.]

Dawson: [Don’t slip up in front of your cousin. She’s a stickler.]

I felt a little ridiculous.

That Friday, when I’d told the group I was working late, and only Josie had answered with a thumbs-up, they’d been in another chat at that very moment, busy planning how to celebrate my cousin passing the first round with my design boards.

I set the phone gently back on the table.

“Wesley Hartwell.”

It was my brother’s full name. I said it very softly.

“When you wrote ‘That’s our Josie, she’s going places’ in the group chat, did you remember you have a sister of your own?”

The smile froze on Wesley’s face.

“Miles Kessler.”

I turned to him.

“When you wrote that she’d make a scene if she found out, did you remember I’m your girlfriend?”

Miles’s expression changed.

“Delaney, listen, we honestly thought…”

“Thought what?”

I cut him off.

“That a design wasn’t worth asking me about? Or that I’m just not worth the trouble?”

Nobody in the living room spoke.

Josie started crying again. This time, nobody comforted her.

I stood and headed for the door.

Wesley called after me.

“Delaney, can’t you stop doing this every time? You hold on to every little thing.”

I stopped, without turning around.

“A little thing? You were in a group chat working out how to keep it from me, ‘Don’t let her know, she’ll make a scene.’ And now that I’m saying two words, I’m the one who won’t let go?”

“The work I put nights and weekends into, you handed off like a little gift.”

“If that counts as small, then maybe nothing has ever been big to you when it comes to me.”

I opened the door and walked out.

It closed behind me.

Through the door I could hear Josie sobbing and Wesley sighing.

Nobody came after me.

I stood in the hallway and took out my phone.

The screen dimmed and lit, lit and dimmed.

The Friday flight was still on the screen.

I stayed two nights at a business hotel near the office.

They didn’t contact me once.

Friday morning, right when they’d all left for work, I went back to the house for my suitcase.

Rolling it past the kitchen, I paused.

There was a new sticky note on the fridge.

[Delaney, I’m so sorry. I know I was wrong. Tonight’s family dinner night. You’ll be there, right? We’ll wait for you.]

I peeled it off, read it through, and dropped it in the trash.

This circle that once made me so anxious and hopeful, the waiting I’d once looked forward to with all my heart, couldn’t stir a single ripple in me now.