He Canceled My Ticket for Her Again, So I Bought My Way Home Chapter 03

He Canceled My Ticket for Her Again, So I Bought My Way Home Chapter 03

Julian’s eyes darted away. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking visibly uncomfortable.

Guilty.

Serena reached for the rack of ribs that had just come out of the oven.

“Let me try some! I only get to taste this flavor when Julian brings me Thanksgiving dinner every year. Usually he hogs most of it before I can get any. Finally, I can have some again.”

Something twisted painfully inside my chest.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like my mother’s cooking.

He just didn’t like sharing it with me.

I slapped her hand away.

“Don’t touch it. It’s mine.”

Serena’s eyes immediately turned red.

She withdrew her hand and looked at Julian with a wounded expression.

“Julian… I… I didn’t mean to. I thought this was something you brought for me too…”

“Clara, what the hell are you doing?”

Julian instantly stepped in front of her.

He gently took her hand and blew on the back of it as if she’d been injured.

“Serena grew up with her parents gone most of the time. She hardly ever gets a real family Thanksgiving meal. She just wanted a bite. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”

Then he turned to me.

“And besides, your mom sends you this stuff every single year. You get it all the time. Why are you being so selfish?”

Yeah.

My mother sent it every year.

But for seven straight years, I hadn’t gone home once.

Every Thanksgiving package she mailed across the country, I barely got the chance to enjoy before Julian turned it into a gift for someone else.

My entire body trembled.

“Get out. Both of you. Get out of my house.”

Julian’s face turned cold.

“This is my house. If anyone’s leaving, it’s you.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

Tears burst from my eyes.

Suddenly, I remembered what my father had told me before I married Julian.

Long-distance marriages were hard.

And if you married the wrong man, you’d spend years paying for that mistake.

For a split second, Julian’s expression softened at the sight of my tears. He took a step toward me as if he wanted to pull me into his arms.

Then Serena grabbed his sleeve.

“I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

She lowered her head pitifully.

“Julian, don’t fight with Clara because of me. I won’t eat it. It’s okay…”

With that, she turned and ran toward the door.

Only to crash straight into someone walking in.

“Oh, sweetheart! What happened?”

It was Eleanor.

She immediately wrapped Serena in her arms.

Then she shot me a sharp look.

“Clara, Serena finally comes over to visit, and this is how you treat a guest?”

I stared at the scene without saying a word.

Then I picked up my insulated food carrier, grabbed the suitcase still sitting in the living room, and headed for the door.

“Clara, can you stop doing this?”

Julian’s exasperated voice followed behind me.

“Every time we argue, you pull this stunt. You don’t even have friends here. Where are you going to go? Stop being dramatic.”

I froze.

His words hit like a knife.

A thousand tiny cuts opened inside my heart.

This was the same man who had once sworn I’d never have to face the world alone.

The same man who promised this house would always be my home.

The same man who said if we ever fought, he’d be the one sleeping on the couch.

The same man who vowed he’d spend the rest of his life making me happy.

I didn’t look back.

I just kept walking.

Behind me, I faintly heard Eleanor’s voice.

“I told you years ago to marry Serena. But no, you had to marry Clara Winslow. That spoiled, difficult woman. Now she can’t even give you a child. What’s the point of keeping her around?”

I gripped the handle of my suitcase so tightly my knuckles turned white.

Finally, the tears came.

I checked into a hotel in downtown Silverport and collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.

A phone call came in.

It was Ethan Vance, my divorce attorney.

[“Hello, Ms. Winslow. There are a few details in the paperwork that require your confirmation. Could you stop by the firm tomorrow morning?”]

“Of course.”

…

The next day, after reviewing the divorce documents with Ethan, we realized it was already lunchtime.

I invited him to grab lunch.

I never expected to run into Julian, Serena, and Serena’s parents.

At the next table, Serena’s parents were practically glowing with gratitude.

“Julian, thank you so much! If you hadn’t installed that app on our phones, we would’ve fallen for that scam.”

“Seriously. Serena told us you designed software that blocks scam messages. That’s incredible.”

The couple couldn’t stop praising him.

But the moment I heard those words, my heart sank.