“Ms. Colleen?”
Still nothing.
Then Adrian appeared at the far end of the hallway.
He stopped when he saw me.
For the first time that day, he looked terrified.
“Meredith.”
I turned toward him.
“You finally remembered my name.”
Sarah stepped forward. “Please tell me she’s lying.”
Adrian looked at his mother.
Then Julian.
Nobody helped him.
“Sarah, I can explain.”
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the hallway. Guests began standing inside the ceremony room.
Adrian touched his cheek.
“Sarah.”
“You told me that she knew about everything.”
I froze.
Adrian looked at her sharply.
Sarah started crying.
“You said Meredith knew you wanted out. You said the funeral was some legal mess your family couldn’t stop.”
I stared at him.
He had lied to her too.
Different lie. Same cowardice.
“I didn’t know anything,” I told her.
Sarah covered her mouth. “I’m so sorry, Meredith.”
“So am I.”
Adrian stepped toward me.
“Meredith, please listen.”
“No.”
“I never wanted to hurt you.”
That almost made me laugh.
“You let me bury you.”
His face twisted.
“I just didn’t know how to end things.”
“So you died?”
He had nothing to say.
I removed my florist badge and looked at him.
“You were right about one thing.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“Something went wrong today.”
Then I walked away.
I neither destroyed the flowers nor made a speech because neither mattered.
Sarah left through the front doors with her father.
Guests began whispering.
Julian disappeared into the ceremony room to explain whatever he could.
Colleen sat down against the hallway wall and cried.
Adrian stood alone in the suit he’d bought for our wedding.
For months, I had believed losing him was the worst thing that had ever happened to me.
Walking out of that venue, I finally understood something.
I hadn’t lost the man I was supposed to marry.
I had discovered who he really was before I married him.
There was a difference.
And for the first time since the funeral, I didn’t feel like a grieving fiancée.
