He Made Me Schedule Meetings, Then Failed to Book Me Chapter 01

He Made Me Schedule Meetings, Then Failed to Book Me Chapter 01

Ethan Carter’s calendar was always packed.

Anything involving him had to be booked in advance.

Every time I hit the booking button right on time, I was still one second behind his secretary.

When my mother was hospitalized after a car accident, I booked Ethan for half an hour to visit her.

Instead, he went to a two-hour celebration for his secretary.

All because she had booked him one second earlier.

The day my water broke, I booked him to be there for the delivery before I called an ambulance.

By the time I reached the delivery room, I learned that his appointment to fix his secretary’s computer came first.

Ethan left a note in the scheduling app:

“You were one second late again. Rules are rules.”

“Besides, Chloe’s computer contains confidential files. I’m the only one who can fix it. I can’t exactly help with the delivery.”

By the time our son turned four, I hired a programmer to install a backdoor in the scheduling app.

All so I could book one dinner with Ethan to celebrate our son’s birthday.

The moment his calendar opened, I held my breath.

His secretary’s booking still beat mine by one second.

After checking the app, the programmer looked at me.

“The system automatically gives Chloe first booking priority. Even a backdoor won’t help.”

I called Ethan with shaking hands, ready to demand an explanation.

But the moment he answered, I heard our son cheer, “Yes! I get to spend my birthday with Aunt Chloe again this year!”

Ethan explained helplessly, “You never manage to book me for Mason’s birthday. Chloe felt sorry for him, so she spent it with him instead.”

I quietly ended the call and canceled every appointment I’d made after that.

I was done with a husband I could never book and a son who never took my side.

…

The second I pressed cancel, Ethan texted me:

“Are you mad?”

“I’m free next Friday night. Book me then, and I’ll make it up to you.”

I stared at those two lines and suddenly laughed.

With him, even managing my feelings required an appointment.

“No need.”

He didn’t reply after I sent it.

Ethan didn’t come home with Mason until eleven that night.

Mrs. Harper, our housekeeper, hurried to pull the cake from the refrigerator.

“Mason, come try this.”

“Your mother spent five hours making it for you.”

Our son backed away, disgusted.

“The cake Aunt Chloe bought in five minutes tastes better than anything Mom spent five hours making.”

“Worthless people are the only ones who waste time like that.”

I walked straight over and threw the cake into the trash.

“Mason!”

Ethan scolded him under his breath.

“Don’t talk to your mother that way.”

Mason stuck out his tongue and turned to hide in his playroom.

Ethan sighed.

“Mason only talks like that because he thinks you don’t do anything at home. Don’t take it personally.”

I looked at him. “Don’t you think the same thing?”

Five years earlier, on our wedding anniversary, I’d reserved a movie theater and booked a restaurant.

But when I tried to book Ethan, I was one second slower than Chloe again.

She’d booked him because she was feeling down and needed him to talk her through it.

I asked Ethan if he could cancel her appointment.

I still remembered the way he looked at me then.

He raised an eyebrow. “When Chloe is upset, it affects her performance.”

“What does missing our anniversary affect?”

I stood there stunned, as if someone had slapped me.

When he proposed, he was the one who asked me to quit my job.

He didn’t want both of us working all the time and never seeing each other.

Yet I was always there, and in his words, I’d become worthless.

That day, I said nothing. I left a signed divorce agreement on the living-room table.

Ethan used my blood-test results to talk me into staying.

“I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said that to you.”

“You’re pregnant. For the baby’s sake, will you give me one more chance?”

I did.

In the end, all I got was a child who looked down on me just as much as his father did.

Ethan raised a hand and rubbed his brow.

“I told you, if you need me to comfort you, book me for next Friday.”

“I’m tired. This is my time off.”

He walked past me toward the study to rest.

Even sleeping in the primary bedroom together required an appointment now.

“I don’t need you to make anything up to me.”

“Just leave me a time to sign.”

He stopped with his back to me, then let out a soft laugh.

“You should still book it.”

“Otherwise, I won’t have any time to chase you to the airport like I did five years ago.”

The study door closed.

I leaned against the wall, shaking down to my fingertips.

Five years ago, when I left, he had been afraid.

Now he thought it was just another one of my tantrums.

Early the next morning, I started packing.

That way, I could leave as soon as the divorce papers were signed.

I couldn’t go to Mom’s. Her health was fragile, and I couldn’t upset her until I was settled.

For now, my only option was my father’s old house.

After he was gone, Mom had moved to a new place because the old house held too many memories.

We only returned there for the yearly memorial.

I didn’t realize until I was leaving that the key to Dad’s old house was missing.

Mrs. Harper saw me searching for it and came over.

“Mr. Carter took the key last week.”

“I think he gave it to a woman named Chloe. A few days ago, he even had me help her move in.”