My Fiancé Chose Her Over Me—So I Canceled Our Wedding Chapter 07

Ethan opened his mouth.

For the first time, he had no answer.

The manager asked again.

“Mr. Brooks, should I put Ms. Hayes down as the bride?”

Nobody spoke.

Ryan was the first to laugh.

“Go ahead. Claire said it herself.”

Luke joined in.

“We’ve already got the whole thing down. No point wasting the reception.”

Sophie waved her hands in alarm.

“Don’t joke about that.”

“Who’s joking?” Ryan picked up the fallen bouquet and pushed it back into her arms. “You’ve worn the veil,

walked down the aisle, and the menu’s built around your tastes.”

Luke grinned and bumped Ethan’s shoulder.

“Why not actually switch brides? You two together…”

“Enough! We’re not changing it!”

Ethan knocked his hand away.

“I’m marrying Claire!”

Ryan frowned.

“You didn’t have a problem with Soph trying on the veil a minute ago.”

“Yesterday, you agreed to let her stand in for Claire at the rehearsal, too.”

“Now Claire decides not to show up, and suddenly you’re taking it out on us?”

Anger flared in Ethan’s chest.

“So that means you get to shove her next to me?”

“When did you start pushing me and Sophie together every chance you got?”

Luke looked as though he’d just heard a joke.

“You’re asking us, Ethan?”

“Weren’t you the one who started treating her like she was special?”

Ethan froze.

Luke raised his voice.

“That dinner in college? Soph sat next to you. There wasn’t a seat when Claire got there, and you told her to

go find herself a chair.”

“On our graduation trip, you draped your jacket over Soph’s shoulders and had Claire take pictures of the four

of us.”

Ryan gave a scornful laugh.

“After a while, we figured that was how you wanted things.”

“We only kept pushing you two together because you took Soph’s side every single time.”

Ethan’s expression darkened.

“But Claire’s my girlfriend.”

“Then fucking act like her boyfriend!”

Luke’s words hit hard.

The room went dead silent.

“When she got upset, you called her petty.”

“When she didn’t come out with us, you called her antisocial.”

“When she did want to come, you said Soph was used to doing her own thing and told Claire not to spoil the

fun.”

“After a while, of course we thought…”

He stopped abruptly.

Ryan said nothing, either.

All three men seemed to realize something at once.

They’d always thought Claire couldn’t fit in.

But they were the ones who didn’t save her a seat at that first dinner.

They were the ones who made her take the pictures on that first trip.

The first time the four of them spent New Year’s Eve without her, they were the ones who told her, “It’s just

old friends. Soph won’t feel comfortable if you come.”

Once. Twice.

Six years.

Claire wasn’t the one who couldn’t fit in.

They’d never really made room for a fifth person.

Sophie started crying.

“Please stop fighting. This is all because of me.”

“But I never wanted to replace Claire.”

“We’ve known each other for so long. I just thought we could keep things the way they used to be.”

“I didn’t know it would bother her this much.”

Ethan looked at her.

For the first time, he didn’t go over to comfort her.

The way things used to be?

Suddenly, he realized those days were long gone.

He had a girlfriend.

Today, he was supposed to have a wife.

Yet Sophie still knew the code to his house.

She could redecorate the home he was supposed to share with his wife.

She had her own bedroom.

A seat next to him at the head table.

She got to decide the wedding menu.

Even after Claire got hurt yesterday, he’d stayed with Sophie.

Claire went to the hospital without him.

He grabbed his car keys and headed for the door.

Luke followed him a few steps toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“The house.”

The house wasn’t far from the hotel.

Twenty minutes later, Ethan stood at the door.

The lock’s screen lit up as soon as he touched it.

He entered the code.

Sophie’s birthday.

The door opened.

Luke’s slippers sat in the entryway.

Ryan’s sneakers.

Sophie’s white fluffy slippers sat neatly in the easiest spot to reach.

Only Claire’s were missing.

Ethan opened the lock’s settings.

Four registered fingerprints.

None of them Claire’s.

For the first time, Ethan saw how laughably absurd it all was.

He’d bought a house for them to live in after the wedding.

He’d given his friends their own rooms.

He’d registered Sophie’s fingerprint.

He’d even set up a bed for her cat.

But he’d forgotten to give the woman he was marrying a way to get through her own front door.