Chapter 2

When I delayed the ceremony, Julian got the wrong idea.

"Rosie, you can push it back as long as you want. I'm still not marrying you today."

Derek laughed.

"Future Mrs. Vance, your devotion to Julian is really something."

He walked over to the vanity, picked up a favor box, and weighed it in his hand.

"Shame. Guess nobody's getting these chocolates today."

Then he let go.

The box hit the floor, spilling chocolates everywhere. The delicate cardboard split apart.

His friends burst out laughing.

"Damn, Derek, cold! But Rosie made a ton of them. One box won't hurt, right?"

Julian frowned.

"That's enough, Derek."

"It's fine. Rosie's not that petty."

Julian didn't say anything else.

It hadn't always been like this.

When his friends used to tease me, he'd drape an arm around my shoulders and drawl, "All right, lay off Rosie."

The way he protected me had made everyone think I was his one exception.

Now he stood on their side and let them laugh at me.

As the laughter continued, Blair suddenly got up from the couch. She crouched to pick up the broken box, gently blew the dust off it, and set it at the edge of the vanity.

Derek nudged one of the chocolates across the floor with his shoe.

"Don't bother. She made plenty."

Blair kept her head down and said softly, "Rosie spent three straight days making these. She kept going even with Band-Aids wrapped around her fingers."

"Even if there's no wedding today, you shouldn't treat her work like this."

The room went quiet for a moment.

Julian came over and reached for my earlobe.

"Quit sulking. I'll give you an even bigger wedding next time."

I turned away from his hand.

It hung in the air. He went still, then lowered his voice.

"Rosie, call off the wedding. Don't make me angry."

He said it so quietly that only I could hear.

I met his eyes.

I used to think love meant being understanding. Today was the first time I realized that, to someone who didn't value me, every compromise I made just became something he could take advantage of.

What a joke.

He caused the problem, and I was the one supposed to clean it up.

How had I never seen through him?

I glanced down at the time on my phone.

Julian took it as agreement.

"Good. Hurry up and call it off. I'll take you out to dinner."

Just then, another message came in.

"I'm in the parking lot. Be right there."