He Chose Her Over Me So I Chose Myself Chapter 34
On the day the correction notice went live, Grant came to my studio.
He didn’t bring jewelry. He didn’t bring property papers.
All he had was an old cardboard tube tucked under one arm.
“These are the design sketches you left at Beacon Hill.”
I didn’t invite him inside.
He stood on the steps and slowly opened the tube. The top page had yellowed with age. It was a stained-glass dome I had drawn when I was eighteen.
I recognized it.
The day I got my acceptance letter from RISD, I showed that drawing to Grant. He glanced at it once and urged me to choose a more stable major instead.
Later, after I moved into his apartment, I shoved the tube into a corner of the study and never opened it again.
“That belongs to me.”
“Yes.”
He held the tube out. I took it.
Something lit briefly in Grant’s eyes, then dimmed just as quickly.
“June, I read the foundation statement.”
“And?”
“I used to think that because you had the Mercer name, and because you had an engagement to me, gratitude was the least you owed us. It wasn’t until you revoked the authorization that I understood that every day you stayed by our side was a choice, not an obligation.”