I Stepped Out of the Shadow of His Favor Chapter 01

I Stepped Out of the Shadow of His Favor Chapter 01

I put our SUV up for sale on a second-hand car website, and a prospective buyer asked why I was in such a hurry to sell it at a discount.

I tugged the corner of my mouth. “It started with a neck pillow.”

The day before, I’d come down with a bad cold and a fever spiking to 102.2 degrees. The car felt stuffy, making my head spin and my stomach turn. I reached out to recline the passenger seat a little so I could rest, but Lane Wilson brushed my hand away at once, frowning in disapproval.

“Don’t mess with the seat,” he said. ” Chloe likes it set this way. You shifted it before, and her back ached for ages afterward.”

He patted the pink neck pillow gently and spoke in a soft, coaxing tone. “Just hang in there. We’ll be home any minute. Chloe has a bad neck, so we’ve got to cut her some slack.”

The way he fussed over the pillow stung me deeply. For six years, he had picked me up and dropped me off in this passenger seat, yet now it felt cramped and stifling.

I didn’t whine or act miserable like I usually would. Instead, I quietly opened the door and climbed into the back. Lane glanced at me in the rearview mirror, assuming I was being moody. He shook his head helplessly and said nothing.

Staring at the [ticket cancellation successful] notification on my phone, I closed my eyes and drifted off.

This ride with Lane Wilson ends here for me.

***

It was pouring rain the night my fever spiked to 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and Lane drove me home. I pulled my coat tight around me and huddled in the backseat, my forehead pressed to the window, alternating between chills and fever.

On the passenger seat sat a beige cervical neck pillow with a thin blanket folded beside it. Neither belonged to me. They were Chloe Harper’s.

I’d just pulled open the passenger door when Lane blocked my way. He lowered his voice, an awkward look crossing his face.

“Ella, you’re running a fever. You can stretch out in the back seat. Chloe’s neck is really sensitive, so we can’t move that pillow at all.”

My hand locked up on the car door handle. Of course I could sit in the back. But I remembered the day we first bought the SUV. He’d opened the passenger door for me, eyes bright with excitement.

“This seat is yours from now on,” he’d said. “I’ll drive you to and from work every day.”

I’d believed him completely back then. Six years later, I was in the backseat while another woman’s things claimed the passenger side.

When we pulled up outside our building, Lane held an umbrella over me. My legs felt weak from the fever, and I leaned against the wall to go inside. Then he stopped.

“Head on inside,” he said. “I just need to check something in the car.”

I turned and watched him step back out into the rain. He opened the passenger door, leaned in to make sure the neck pillow hadn’t shifted, neatly refolded the blanket, and even adjusted the air vents. Rain soaked his shoulders, but he didn’t seem to notice.

I stood in the hallway, my throat tight. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to be thoughtful. His care had simply been given to someone else.

Once inside, I sank onto the sofa. My phone buzzed.

[Auto payment received: $486.00 toward your auto loan.]

I stared at the message for a long time. The SUV was registered in my name. I’d paid sixty percent of the down payment, and Lane covered the remaining forty. Because I had a better credit record and steadier income, the loan was tied to my bank account.

At first, he’d transferred his share of the monthly payment to me without fail, with warm little notes in the memo line: [For our car.] Gradually, the notes disappeared, and the amounts he sent became inconsistent. Sometimes he would fall short by a few hundred dollars and say he would pay the rest the next month. I never pressed him. I truly believed we would get married, so there was no need to haggle over every dollar.

Yet now the loan payments came out of my account, while the passenger seat belonged entirely to Chloe.

I opened the app for my car. The car was registered under my name, clear as day—Ella Carter. Then I checked the GPS history. Chloe’s work was saved as the top destination. Her physical therapy clinic came second. My office was third.

Then I checked the car’s Bluetooth history. Chloe’s phone had been paired more often than anyone else’s lately.

I thought back to all the times Lane said he was “on the way.” He’d drive miles out of his route to pick Chloe up from work, take her to therapy, pick up her medication, even bring her back to our place to wait for him. Meanwhile, when I worked late, he’d just tell me to take a cab and he’d pay me back.

So “on the way” meant different things for different people. He’d go out of his way for one person, while leaving another to fend for themselves.

Lane walked over with a glass of room-temperature water and pressed his warm palm to my forehead.

“You’re still running a high fever. Take your meds and hit the hay soon.”

His tone was as gentle as ever. Everyone said he was easygoing and caring. I’d thought so too, until I finally understood: If a man always gives his kindness to others first, it can never be called exclusive affection..

I took the glass without a word.

Lane sighed. ” You’re still bent out of shape over what happened in the car, huh?

Chloe’s been under the weather. She didn’t mean to take your spot.”

I stared at the water. “When did I ever complain?”

He looked caught off guard, clearly not expecting me to be so calm.

“That’s not what I’m saying.” He sat beside me and reached out to pull me into his arms. “I know you feel wronged. When you recover, I’ll take you out for a fancy steak dinner.”

Once upon a time, I would have accepted that peace offering and let everything slide. But that night, I was done making excuses for him.

His phone lit up on the table: Chloe.

Lane glanced at it and immediately stepped out onto the balcony. The sliding glass door was ajar, and I heard him lower his voice.

“It’s all good, we’re home now. I put the neck pillow right back in place, nothing’s moved. I adjusted the air vents too, so you won’t get a chill on your neck tomorrow.”

My fingers tightened around the glass. So she would be riding in the car again tomorrow.

I stayed on the sofa and opened the used car marketplace app to look up the SUV’s current value. Then I opened my bank app to check the remaining loan balance and early payoff process. The total was substantial, but adding the refund from our canceled trip to my savings, I had just enough.

This trip was meant to be our final long vacation before our wedding. I’d booked hotels, flights, and planned every detail. But that morning Lane had told me he couldn’t go.

“We can travel anytime,” he’d said. ” Chloe’s rehabilitation period was critical right now. ”

I’d canceled all the reservations quietly, just as I was quietly pricing out my car now.

Lane came back inside, tucked a blanket around me, and whispered for me not to read too much into it. I closed my eyes. Once he walked into the bathroom, I opened them again and saved a screenshot of the car’s estimated value.

The passenger seat had stopped being mine a long time ago. There was no reason to keep the SUV any longer.