The Wedding Game That Cost Him Everything Chapter 40
After we left the cemetery, we went to the first Safe Return service point in the United States.
The place wasn’t large, and there was nothing expensive about it.
On the wall were the emergency contact details for coastal rescue, along with the addresses of nearby hospitals, trusted safety agencies, and temporary housing.
Chloe looked around, her eyes turning red.
“If there had been a place like this back when your wedding happened…”
“That’s why there is one now.”
She hugged me.
That night, all fifteen of us gathered together for the first time again.
There was no wedding dress, no game, and no one left alone in a place with no signal.
Someone brought up the hurricane from that day, and the table fell quiet for a few seconds.
Then, very quickly, Peace knocked over her juice, and everyone scrambled to save the tablecloth instead.
As Chloe wiped at it, she grumbled, “You’re just as clumsy as Isolde was when she was little.”
“I was not,” I said.
“You don’t even remember.”
Everyone laughed.
I laughed too.
None of it had been forgotten.
But those things had finally stopped being the only thing we could talk about when we sat together.
A few years later, Peace could paint her own nails neatly.
When she came to visit me on break, the first thing she did was seize my hand.
“Isolde, why do you always only wear clear polish?”
“I have surgery tomorrow.”
“What about the day after?”
“I have surgery then, too.”
She sighed like a little adult.
“Your life is so boring.”
That made me pause for a second.
Peace immediately laughed and flung herself at me.
“Just kidding!”
I pinched her cheek.
“That joke isn’t funny.”
“Then I’m sorry.”
After she said it, she just looked at me seriously. She didn’t argue, and she didn’t expect me to laugh along anyway.
I let go.
“Accepted.”
Chloe stood in the doorway, smiling as she urged us to get going.