They Switched My Groom So I Married The Wrong Man Chapter 02
The Other Bride
The man beside me barely speaks once we leave the hotel.
He’s probably afraid I’ll recognize that he isn’t Ethan.
He doesn’t know I already have.
When the car slows, he checks that my seat belt isn’t twisted against my dress.
Things Ethan stopped noticing years ago.
I look out the window and think about my parents.
They have always loved Sophie.
I knew that.
She remembers birthdays.
She brings flowers.
She spots my parents across a room and runs over to hug them before they can even call her name.
I can’t do that.
Sometimes my mother has stood directly in front of me at a crowded store and I’ve walked past her.
Sometimes my father has approached me from somewhere unexpected and I’ve mistaken him for a stranger.
They know I have face blindness.
Somehow, they still take it personally every time I fail to recognize theirs.
“You’ve lived with us your whole life,” my mother once snapped. “How can you still not know your own parents?”
Sophie never makes that mistake.
So over time, she becomes easier to love.
Apparently, easy enough to replace me on my wedding day.
The stranger glances at me.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
He doesn’t believe me, but he doesn’t push.
A few minutes later, the car suddenly brakes.
I pitch forward.
His hand shoots out between my forehead and the dashboard.
“Careful.”
I steady myself.
“What happened?”
He peers through the windshield.
“Another wedding party.”
The road ahead narrows between construction barriers.
Cars fill both sides.
Neither group can get through.
Then I see the vehicle at the front of the other convoy.
A black SUV.
Ethan bought it two weeks ago.
He told me we couldn’t use it for our wedding because the registration wasn’t finished.
I remember standing beside him when he picked it up.
I remember the vanity plate too.
At the time, I didn’t think much about it.
Now I stare.
SL-ILY.
Sophie Lane.
I love you.
Maybe it means nothing.
Maybe Ethan could explain it.
But today, after everything else, I don’t care whether he can.
My phone buzzes.
A message from Sophie.
Claire, we’re stuck too.
Then another.
Can you ask Ethan to back up a little? Our ceremony is starting soon and we’re already running late.
I look at the man sitting beside me.
My “Ethan.”
He’s frowning at the road.
“I’ll get out and see if there’s enough space to squeeze past.”
He reaches for the door.
I stop him.
“Don’t.”
He turns toward me.
I point toward a narrow side road just ahead.
“Take that.”
He looks at it.
The pavement is cracked and uneven.
“That road’s terrible.”
“So?”
“It’ll slow us down. And if we hit one of those potholes, your dress is going to be gray before we get to the venue.”
I look at him.
“I’m not worried about the dress.”
He hesitates.
“It also takes us away from the hotel.”
“I know.”
His hand stays on the steering wheel.
I smile.
“Turn.”
He studies me for a second.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He starts the car forward.
Then stops again.
“Claire, if we go that way, we’re not getting back to the wedding route anytime soon.”
I look at him.
“Good.”
His brows draw together.
I lean back against the seat.
“What?”
I ask.
“You think taking the wrong road is the biggest problem with my wedding?”
I hold his gaze even though his face means nothing to me.
“Ethan already replaced the groom.”
Silence.
Then I point at the turn.
“Drive.”