My Best Friend Took My Man. I Gave Her the Whole Ceremony Chapter 04

My Best Friend Took My Man. I Gave Her the Whole Ceremony Chapter 04

Valerie pushed Ethan away. She limped over and planted herself between us, shielding me. “What is wrong with you, Ethan? Why are you going after Clara?”

I stared at her slightly trembling arms and at her deaf ear, the one she always tilted away from people now.

She’d done this before. So many times.

A stray dog chased me in third grade, and Valerie stepped in front of me. A kid in middle school cornered me and wouldn’t leave me alone. Valerie got between us. And that night with my uncle. Always her. Always the one taking the hit for me.

My throat clenched, and I bit down hard on the inside of my cheek. “I’m sorry. I won’t cause any more problems.”

Something in those words made Ethan flinch. His mouth opened, but nothing came out.

I didn’t wait for him to find the words. I grabbed Valerie’s hand, lacing our fingers together the way I used to, and pulled her toward the stairs.

Time for wedding gift number four.

I kept my voice light. “Hey, you’re still a six and a half, right?”

“Yeah,” she said, not really paying attention.

Then she grinned. “Wait. Are you getting me something?”

“You’ll love it.”

“How do you always know what I want?”

I squeezed her hand. “Tell me.”

Valerie tapped the tip of my nose with one finger. “I want you happy and healthy. That’s it. That’s the whole list.”

I smiled. “Deal.”

Somewhere deep in my chest, the lie landed like a stone. I’m sorry, Valerie. That’s the one thing I can’t give you.

Later that week, I returned the original wedding ring and swapped it for the designer Valerie had always loved. When I tried it on, the ring spun loosely around my finger.

It hit me then, how much weight I’d lost. The illness had hollowed me out, and neither of them had noticed.

There was a time when dropping even a pound would’ve set them both off, blaming each other for not feeding me enough, not watching out for me. Now my cheekbones jutted out and my wrists looked like they could snap, and neither one of them had said a word.

I tucked the ring back into its box. Ready for the wedding day.

When I was done, I couldn’t lift my arm. Just that much had drained everything I had.

Every breath pulled at something raw in my stomach. The pain was so bad I wished it would just kill me already.

I made myself walk to the garden. My mother’s garden. The one thing she’d left behind for me.

The estate was already Valerie’s. I’d put it in my will. They’d probably live at the other house most of the time. But if they ever came back here, and if it wasn’t too much to ask, I hoped they’d scatter my ashes under the white roses.

It would be like being held by her again.

But when I got to the garden, the air left my lungs.

The white roses were gone. Ripped out by the roots, trampled into the dirt.

I ran at the workers. “What are you doing? Stop!”

The head gardener looked confused. “Mr. Vance put in the order. Said the white roses felt too cold for the wedding. He wanted champagne roses instead. Something warmer. More celebratory.”

My legs almost gave out. The grief hit first, then something sharper underneath it. Something close to hate.

Even if he didn’t love me anymore, he could have told me. Why did he have to destroy the only piece of her I had left?

I told them to stop. To put every single rose back the way it was.

I went straight to the study, eyes burning. I was done protecting him from the truth.

I was going to tell him everything. That I was dying, that he needed to stop. They could be together. I didn’t blame them. They could call it even. Everything they’d sacrificed. Everything I owed.

I pushed the door open. Ethan was at the desk, staring at me with red-rimmed eyes, a handful of papers clenched in his fists.

I looked down at what he was holding. My diagnosis. Every page of it.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”