They Voted Me Out Of The Wedding So I Canceled It Chapter 12
Before the elevator doors closed, Evan blurted out, “You changed your emergency medical contact, too?”
I held the door.
“Yes.”
“To Cameron? I’m your husband! If something happened to you, I would get on a plane immediately.”
“It used to be you,” I said, my voice level.
“Three years ago, I had acute appendicitis. I called you more than ten times. You were with Ava, who was having a meltdown after a breakup, so you’d put your phone on silent. In the end, I had to call an ambulance for myself.”
Evan’s face went pale. “I didn’t know it was that serious.”
“You never do.”
“Claire, I’m changing.”
“Good. But I already learned how to call my own ambulance.”
The elevator doors slid shut.
Evan stood rooted to the spot, finally realizing that this wasn’t about punishing him.
I truly didn’t need him anymore.
For the next four days, he stayed in an Atlanta hotel. Every morning he sent coffee to my office, and every evening he waited downstairs for me to leave.
The coffee was either sent back by reception or left untouched until it was cold. I left through the side entrance and never saw him.
On the fifth day, Evan saw a photo Ava had posted.
She was at a dinner table, her arm looped through Rachel’s. Beside Rachel sat a man he didn’t recognize—her new boyfriend. The three of them were smiling like a happy little family.
The caption read: “New family dinner!”
Evan stared at that line for a long time.
He had made me step aside again and again to preserve that very image of family. Now I was gone, and the family he’d worked so hard to protect hadn’t bothered to wait for him, either.
That night, he checked out of the hotel.
Before leaving, he drove to my office one last time. He took a photocopy of our handwritten wedding vows from a hidden compartment in his wallet and slipped it under the door.
On the back, in a clumsy imitation of my handwriting, he had written:
“I’ll wait for you.”