Seventeen Times She Came, Once I Stopped Caring Chapter 01

Seventeen Times She Came, Once I Stopped Caring Chapter 01

At yet another wedding ceremony, right in the middle of the vows, Ethan Carter’s assistant Megan Hayes came running up, dropped to her knees, and burst into tears.

“Please, all you media people—help me find my missing brother!”

“His name is Dylan. He went missing when he was six. He’s all I’ve got left.”

Ethan didn’t stop her. He even clamped down on my hand, hard, like he was afraid I’d lose it.

“Don’t make a scene. We’ve got major media here today. I’ll explain later.”

Explain what?

Explain why he swore Megan wouldn’t show up to ruin things, and then let her do it anyway?

I’d heard the same lines so many times. Something in me just gave out. So I tilted my chin and signaled the emcee to hand her the microphone.

“It’s fine. Let her speak. This is a great chance to find her brother. Don’t waste it.”

Ethan stared at me, confused.

He didn’t know I’d decided to give the wedding to Megan for good.

And him—I was done with him too.

***

Megan was crying, tears spilling onto a big missing-person poster of a boy, making the whole place feel like a funeral.

New guests didn’t know what to make of it.

“Is this a wedding gag or something?”

“You must be new here. She pulls this every single time—right at this point. She acts like weddings are her personal missing-person plea.”

“That bride looks wrecked. Seventeen times her big day’s been trashed. How does she even stand it?”

“Maybe she’s got something shady going on, and the groom’s holding it over her.”

Ethan shot a cold look around, and the murmuring died instantly.

He directed security to clear the guests, leaving the space for the media and Megan.

Then he came over, trying to kiss my forehead.

“Leah, you handled that really well. I was afraid you’d be upset. Guess I worried for nothing.”

I turned my head just enough to miss his kiss.

“I’m not upset. I did my part. Can I go now?”

“What part? This is our wedding.”

His brow furrowed.

“I know you’re mad I didn’t tell you, but we got three major media outlets here today—this could really help Megan find her brother.”

“My cousin went missing when I was a kid. I know what it’s like to lose family. I had to help her.”

“If you leave now, Megan will feel terrible. We need to stand here and give her confidence.”

But Megan’s confidence came from him, not me.

I swayed a little. The low blood sugar was hitting hard.

Finally the reporters cleared out.

Megan came running over, her eyes red. “I’m so sorry, Leah. Please don’t be mad at Ethan—it was all me. I begged him. I’m such a mess.”

Ethan slid his arm around my shoulder. “Leah’s got a huge heart. She’s not mad.”

Oh, I was mad. The first time, she crashed my product launch to look for her brother. I let it slide.

Later, I pulled strings to get her on a missing-person TV show, but she refused—and then she set her sights on my wedding again.

Every time I complained, Ethan always had the same excuse.

“Megan has social anxiety. She’d freeze up on a TV show.”

Freeze up? She sure seemed comfortable crashing my wedding over and over.

“Ethan,” I said softly, cutting him off. “I’m tired.”

He nodded. “You’ve been up since four in the morning getting ready. Of course you’re tired.”

“I told you not to diet so hard. Your lips are pale. Let’s go home.”

So he did know.

I’d starved myself for three weeks for this wedding. Woke up at four a.m. to do my makeup, all for the perfect on-camera look.

And him?

When he picked me up, he carried me to the car and carefully put my wedding shoes on.

He’d promised me nothing would go wrong.

He booked Crestwood’s most reputable media, deployed security all over the hotel, and even sent Megan on a business trip three days early—I had the flight confirmation on my phone.

But he still lied to me. From start to finish.

When we got home, the back of my heels were raw and bleeding—the skin had fused to the shoes.

“Leah, doesn’t that hurt?” He lifted my ankle gently and pressed a Band-Aid over it, his voice carrying a mild scold.

“Yeah. But if you ignore it long enough, it stops hurting.”

He paused, a strange look flickering in his eyes.

“Why didn’t you say the shoes didn’t fit?”

“Were you that desperate for this wedding?”

“Yes,” I said, closing my eyes.

My mother had three weddings. All of them ended badly.

The first one, my father ran off with the bridesmaid, making her the town joke.

The second, her fiancé scammed her out of her savings, and the police showed up instead of a groom.

The third, the man dropped dead from a sudden illness mid-ceremony, and everyone called my mother a curse.

She spiraled into depression and passed when I was fifteen.

Her last words to me were, “Leah, keep your eyes open. Marry a good man. Don’t end up like me.”

When I met Ethan, I really believed I’d have the perfect wedding.

Even after the first few disruptions, I kept telling myself—it’ll happen. We’ll get through it.

But I was wrong.

He didn’t cheat, didn’t scam me, didn’t die.

He just turned my wedding into Megan’s personal search party. “Ethan, I’m thirty-two now. I don’t want to keep doing this.”

Three years. Seventeen joke weddings. I’d gone from twenty-nine to thirty-two, and I’d been laughed at the whole time.

“Weddings are supposed to be a hassle.” He loosened his tie, missing my point entirely. “If you weren’t so into the whole romantic thing, I’d say let’s just go sign the papers. The ceremony’s just a formality.”

“I had someone check the calendar. Seven days from now looks good. That wedding is happening. I promise.”

I was silent for almost a minute.

“Ethan, actually I—” Before I could finish, his phone rang.

“Megan? You passed out from low blood sugar after all that crying? Hang on, I’m on my way!”

He bolted out without even changing his clothes.

I’d been about to tell him that my childhood best friend had proposed to me today.

But my own blood sugar crashed, and everything went hazy.

As I collapsed onto the bed, my phone lit up.

A message from that friend, sent hours ago, still waiting on my screen.

[Leah, if you ever want to come back, I’ll marry you anytime.]

With the last of my consciousness, I typed one word back, [Yes.]