“In a way?” Mason tried to take her hand.
She pulled away. Then she asked whether he planned to leave Natalie.
Mason said nothing.
The answer was complete.
Lauren left the hotel shortly before two in the morning. The first person she called was me.
My phone was on silent. She called again.
Then she sent Please talk to me. Mason lied. A second message said, I’m leaving. Nothing happened the way you think.
Then came I made the biggest mistake of my life. I saw all of them the next morning.
The message that mattered most arrived at 2:41. Please don’t cancel tomorrow yet. Give me one hour with you first.
By then the wedding had been canceled for more than four hours. She still believed it could be restored because Mason had turned out to be dishonest.
That told me Lauren had not yet understood what actually ended us.
Mason’s lie had changed her understanding of Mason. It did not change what she had asked me to accept.
Lauren went to her parents’ house around three. Thomas told me later she arrived crying so hard her mother thought she had been injured. When Lauren said she needed to talk to me before the wedding, Thomas answered, “There is no wedding.”
She asked whether he had spoken to me. He said yes.
Then she asked whether he thought I might reconsider. Thomas said no.
Lauren became angry. “You’re my father.”
Thomas answered, “That’s why I’m not going to lie to you tonight.”
The following morning was supposed to be my wedding day. I woke on Derek’s couch at seven after maybe two hours of sleep. My suit was still hanging at our apartment.
My mother arrived carrying coffee and the bag of toiletries I had left at the hotel reserved for the wedding party. Nobody knew what to say. Eventually she sat beside me and asked whether I wanted breakfast.
I said no. She made toast anyway.
At ten thirty, Paige from the venue called. Some food had already been prepared, floral arrangements were delivered, and most staffing costs could not be recovered. She asked whether I wanted anything done with the food that was safe to donate.
I asked her to send whatever could legally be given away to a local family shelter and the overnight staff at a nearby hospital. The flowers could go wherever she thought appropriate. Paige said she would handle it.
Derek wanted to keep me away from Hawthorne Ridge. I went anyway.
We arrived shortly after noon. The reception room looked almost complete.
Round tables covered in linen. Candles. White roses.
Place cards arranged alphabetically. A wooden sign near the entrance read GARRETT & LAUREN — THE BEST IS YET TO COME.
I stood in front of that sign much longer than I expected. Derek came beside me but did not touch my shoulder or tell me everything happened for a reason.
He simply said, “We can take it down.” I nodded.
That afternoon, instead of saying vows, I sat with my parents, Derek, and three close friends in a restaurant near the venue. Nobody toasted my escape.