I stood there watching the doors close behind them.
I expected to feel victorious.
I didn’t.
I felt exhausted.
Nolan came to my side.
“You okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s okay.”
I looked toward the empty space where Derek had been standing.
“I loved him.”
“I know.”
“And Clara was my best friend.”
“I know.”
He didn’t tell me I should be grateful.
He didn’t tell me this was better for me.
He simply stood there.
That was what I needed.
The wedding was over.
Not postponed.
Not put on hold.
Over.
The next morning, I deleted the countdown from my phone.
Twelve days had disappeared.
So had the future I had spent three years imagining.
For a while, I couldn’t bring myself to look at the wedding dress hanging in my closet.
It had cost more than anything I would normally buy for myself.
Every time I opened that door, I saw the woman I had expected to become.
A wife.
A partner.
Someone building a life with Derek.
Eventually, I sold the dress.
I canceled the remaining wedding arrangements.
Then I started dealing with the money.
That part took time.
Nearly $40,000 of my personal savings had gone toward wedding expenses that were not what I had believed them to be.