The Tickets He Gave Me Became My Best Friend’s Trip Instead Chapter 01

The Tickets He Gave Me Became My Best Friend’s Trip Instead Chapter 01

After Julian Mercer’s mother lost the ability to speak, I was the only person she would let sit with her through her at-home therapy exercises.

Whenever Julian and I were supposed to go somewhere together, she would clutch my sleeve and refuse to let go.

Once again, Julian pressed an unused ticket into my hand and kissed my forehead, guilt softening his expression.

“When Mom gets better, I’ll make up every trip I owe you.”

Then he added, “Claire can come with me on this business trip. Don’t read anything into it.”

Claire Sutton was his executive assistant, the woman he always praised for knowing exactly where the boundaries were.

Over three years, I collected twenty-seven tickets for trips we never took. The mountains, historic towns, the coast. One by one, every destination showed up in Claire’s Instagram posts instead.

I kept telling myself Julian was simply too busy with work.

Then one afternoon, I brought his mother a glass of water and heard her speaking clearly inside the study.

“Did Claire have a good time?”

Julian laughed.

“Mom, you’re pretty convincing. Nora still doesn’t suspect a thing.”

I stopped outside the half-closed door. Through the narrow opening, I saw Julian sitting at the table with his mother and Megan Price, my best friend.

Megan picked up her phone.

“Nora was supposed to go to the company awards gala with Julian tomorrow. Mrs. Mercer, remember the plan. Have another episode before she leaves. Claire doesn’t want Nora there getting in her way.”

Everyone agreed with a laugh. Julian’s mother even began rehearsing the vague gestures she always used around me.

I looked down at the latest unused ticket in my hand.

There had never been a string of missed opportunities. I had spent all that time caring for a woman who wasn’t sick while everyone around me protected the same lie.

As the ticket slipped from my fingers, I realized I was done waiting for the next season of my life to begin.

***

The next day, Julian crouched in front of me and kept his voice low.

“Nora, look at her. She can’t manage without you today.”

I didn’t answer. I simply used a warm washcloth to wipe the water from the back of his mother’s hand.

Mrs. Mercer lay against the pillows, making faint, broken sounds as she clutched my sleeve.

Julian looked at me, his eyes full of tenderness.

“You were supposed to come to the gala with me tonight. I wanted everyone to finally meet you, but you can’t leave Mom like this. I’ll have to take Claire instead.”

He reached for my hand.

“I’ll stop by your favorite bakery on the way home and bring those cinnamon rolls you love. How does that sound?”

As I looked at him, I remembered a winter three years earlier.

Julian had been running a fever of 104 and could barely stand, but he’d still forced himself out of bed to heat some soup for me.

He had sat beside me, cooling each spoonful before feeding it to me.

Back then, he couldn’t bear for me to suffer even the slightest discomfort.

Now he could take everything away from me in the same soft, loving voice.

I gently pulled my hand free, avoiding his touch.

“Fine.”

Megan came over that afternoon. She made herself at home as she always did, while Mrs. Mercer lay in her bedroom pretending to be asleep.

Megan sat beside me on the couch, concern carefully arranged across her face.

“Don’t blame Julian. The company’s at a critical point right now, and he’s under a lot of pressure.”

I said nothing.

She sighed and kept going.

“Claire’s good at what she does, and her connections open doors for him. You’re home all day anyway, and helping with his mother is part of being family. You need to be more understanding, Nora. He already has enough on his plate.”

The doorbell rang before I had to answer.

A delivery driver stood outside with chicken-and-rice soup from an upscale restaurant.

Julian had ordered it because he knew I’d been too busy with his mother to eat lunch.

A message from Julian came with the delivery: [You’ve been taking care of Mom all day and skipped lunch. I had them rush this over. Eat every bite. Love you.]

A bittersweet warmth had barely begun to spread through my chest when a voice message from Julian came through less than two minutes later.

[Claire’s having a rough time with her period, and her stomach’s been bothering her all day. Since Megan’s with you, could she bring the soup over? She’s picky and won’t eat anything else. Order something for yourself. I’ll take you somewhere nice tomorrow and make it up to you.]

My fingers tightened around the phone.

Before I could say anything, Mrs. Mercer began pounding urgently on her bed frame from the other room.

Megan immediately understood.

“See? Even Mrs. Mercer’s worried about Claire.” She picked up the takeout bag. “You won’t starve here, Nora. I’m taking this with me.”

I watched her walk away. The day before, she had laughed harder than anyone in that study, desperate to stay in Claire’s good graces.

I went into the study and took out a thick, handmade scrapbook. Each page held one of the tickets we had never used.

There were twenty-seven in all.

I had planned to give the scrapbook to Julian as a surprise at our engagement party the following month. Instead, I flipped through the yellowing ticket stubs and called the boutique where I had ordered my dress.

“I need to cancel the custom dress for next month.”

The woman on the other end hesitated, but I hung up before she could respond.

Julian came home shortly after eleven that night with the faint smell of bourbon on his clothes. He was carrying a white box from my favorite bakery.

Claire walked in behind him wearing his suit jacket.

Her gaze swept over the apron around my waist.

“Julian had too much to drink and insisted I join him for work drinks afterward,” she said.

“It was cold outside, so he lent me his jacket.”

One eyebrow lifted slightly.

“You don’t mind, do you?”