After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 11

After Seven Empty Chairs, I Took My Daughter and Left Chapter 11

Amid the enthusiastic congratulations, a few low, discordant comments could be heard.

“Dressing up the destruction of a marriage as a romantic comedy. What an embarrassment to Wellesley.”

“No wonder Ava isn’t here. Poor Ava.”

Those voices speaking up for Ava were quickly drowned out, like grains of salt dropped into champagne, fizzing for only a moment before disappearing.

By the time the party ended, it was late. Sloane had clearly had several too many glasses of Dom Pérignon. Drunk and hazy-eyed, she clung to Noah’s arm like a vine, refusing to let go.

“Noah,” she murmured, burying her face in the crook of his arm, her voice slurred. “You have to treat me even better from now on… or I’ll… I’ll run away again…”

The moonlight he had chased for ten years had finally fallen into his arms, drunk and spoiled. Noah’s heart felt seized by a soft hand. He forgot the cold look his father had given him when he left. He forgot all the questions crowding his mind about those “divorce papers.”

The only thing he could do now was take care of Sloane first.

Noah helped her into his Range Rover and drove her back to her apartment in Back Bay. Only after he settled the sleeping Sloane did he return alone to the Beacon Hill townhouse he had shared with Ava.

The headlights cut through the dark and illuminated the familiar red brick building. Noah pushed open the door and was met by a dead silence. There was no warm light, no Ava waiting for him. Only then did it truly hit him that Ava was gone.

He didn’t believe Ava could truly leave him. He knew how much she loved him. Just as he had chased Sloane for years, Ava had always chased him. This was the classic forbearance of a high-society Boston wife.

Noah walked into the living room. The deep navy document box he had left on the passenger seat now sat in his mind, heavy and unavoidable. He remembered that before she left that morning, Ava had still given him a birthday gift. He thought she was only throwing a tantrum and wanted him to coax her.

He had indeed neglected her recently because of Sloane. Once she calmed down in that new rented apartment by the Charles, he would make it up to her properly. He would take her to Paris and let her choose whatever she wanted at the Van Cleef & Arpels flagship store.

With that thought, Noah pulled out his phone and called Ava, completely ignoring that it was already dawn.

The phone rang for a long time. No one answered. At last, it went straight to voicemail.

Noah frowned and opened iMessage, quickly typing a line.

“Ava, we need to talk.”

The message sent, but the little bubble turned a glaring green. Beneath it was a line of red text: Not Delivered.

Noah’s anger surged.

So she couldn’t even explain herself and had simply blocked him?

He gave a cold laugh and threw the phone onto the sofa.

Was she waiting for him to lower himself and personally go to that pitiful little apartment by the Charles to find her?