It’s Not That I Didn’t Wait, It’s That You Never Chose Me Chapter 06

It’s Not That I Didn’t Wait, It’s That You Never Chose Me Chapter 06

For the next three days, Adrian was miserable.

Bryce slept until noon every day, then stayed up half the night throwing parties in the living room with a pack of useless friends. Beer stains and cigarette ash sank into the expensive Persian rug.

The minimalist living room Adrian had always been so proud of turned into a filthy wreck.

Eventually he snapped and tore into Bryce.

Less than ten minutes later, Vanessa called.

She was crying the moment he picked up.

“Adrian, Bryce is still just a kid. He’s about to start intensive arts training and he’s under a lot of pressure. Can’t you cut him some slack?”

Then she added, her voice cracking just right, “You never used to take your temper out on us. Is this because Elaina’s having one of her moods?”

Adrian pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling more irritated than he could explain.

After he hung up, he stood there staring at the mess and, without warning, found himself missing the way things used to be when he came home:

The warm lamp left on for him, the bowl of soup always waiting on the table, still hot.

On the fourth morning, Adrian went to campus for a departmental meeting.

After it ended, Dean Whitaker stopped him.

“Adrian, I heard that distant relative of yours, Bryce Holloway, made it through the arts review, but his SAT score was only a 920?” The dean’s expression was serious. “Our university values artistic talent, but if the academic foundation is that weak, keeping up is going to be hard. Since you vouched for him, you’ll need to keep a close eye on that.”

Adrian nodded quickly and agreed, all humility.

Then the dean paused, and his tone turned reflective.

“That said, you Pine Creek people really do have strong stock. I saw an interview on the state education channel yesterday. A top science student from your county got admitted straight into St. Alden’s BS/MD Program with a 1510.”

Adrian blinked. “St. Alden?”

“Yeah.” The dean smiled and clapped him on the shoulder.

“The girl’s name was Tessa Rowan. I thought your wife’s maiden name was Rowan too. Her father even mentioned you in the interview.”

Every drop of blood in Adrian’s body seemed to go cold.

“Mentioned… me?”

“He did.” The dean gave him a long, meaningful look.

“The old man said he didn’t understand college admissions, so he took a bus all the way into the city to ask his professor son-in-law for advice. But the son-in-law was too busy and told him to go look it up himself.”

Then his voice sharpened, just slightly.

“Adrian, scholarship matters. Of course it does. But family matters too. That girl got a 1510 and got into St. Alden, and you barely lifted a finger for her? You bent over backward for a distant relative with a 920. But when it came to your own wife’s sister, suddenly you had no time?”

A few professors from the department had gone quiet nearby. Their ears were clearly open now, and the looks they exchanged had turned strange.

Adrian stood there, his face draining and flushing by turns, his palms slick with sweat.

The direct-admit program.

Those words looped in his head.

Then he remembered the old man in the arena hallway a few days earlier. Sweaty. Wearing that cheap white shirt.

Clutching a little notebook like it meant everything. Looking at him with nothing but hope and calling him son-in-law.

And Adrian, in front of everyone, had answered coldly, “I don’t know him.”

Worse than that, he had let campus security shove the man into the corner.

A dull roar filled Adrian’s ears. His heart felt like a fist had closed around it and wouldn’t let go.

At last, he understood why Elaina had gone flying toward that corner like a woman possessed.

At last, he understood what the signature on the divorce papers really meant.

He rushed out of the administration building, yanked out his phone, and started calling me over and over.

“Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable…”

Still blocked.

Adrian ripped his tie loose, didn’t even bother taking his car back down to the garage, and flagged a cab straight from the curb. “Bus terminal. Fast.”

Four hours on an interstate coach.

He sat in a seat that smelled faintly rotten, staring out at the blur of scenery racing past the window, panic gnawing through him. The whole way, he kept trying to reassure himself.

Elaina was just angry.

People back in small towns cared deeply about dignity. If he showed up in person with an expensive gift and apologized properly, this could still be fixed.

After all, Tessa getting into a top the direct-admit BS/MD program was good news. It was a celebration.

At four in the afternoon, the bus reached the county seat.

From there, Adrian transferred onto an old local shuttle that rattled and lurched all the way to Pine Creek.

A huge banner had been strung up at the entrance to town:

Congratulations to Pine Creek student Tessa Rowan on her admission to St. Alden’s BS/MD Program with a 1510!

Adrian looked at the bright red banner and suddenly felt his steps grow heavy.

Carrying two expensive supplement baskets he had picked up at the supermarket in town, he walked to the front gate of my father’s house.

The yard was packed with round tables and folding chairs.

The place buzzed with noise and laughter. Neighbors sat around talking over snacks, voices rising and overlapping in the summer air. And the moment Adrian stepped into the gateway, he saw me.

I was standing among the crowd in a plain white blouse, my hair loosely pinned up, carrying a plate of sliced watermelon as I handed pieces out to the neighbors.

Sunlight spilled across my face.

I was smiling.

Not the careful, restrained smile I wore around him. Not the one dulled by tension, by caution, by years of swallowing hurt. This one was open and bright and easy.

The sight of it hit him like a blade under the ribs.

Adrian drew in a breath, tightened his grip on the gift boxes, and walked into the yard.