After I Gave My Husband Away, He Begged Me to Stay Chapter 03
The reply came almost immediately:
【Received. You start next Monday. Do you still need the corporate apartment?】
I typed two words.
【Keep it.】
Sent.
Two minutes later, a name I hadn’t seen light up my screen in a long time appeared.
Grant Sullivan.
【Finally coming?】
I stared at it for a moment.
Then replied:
【It’s a job. Don’t flatter yourself.】
He sent back a smile.
【Fine. Your office is still here.】
I set my phone facedown on the dashboard.
The chocolate in my mouth turned cloyingly sweet.
I spat the other half into a tissue and started the engine.
…
At six-thirty that evening, Ethan walked in with Megan.
I was in the living room taking our engagement photos down.
They had been taken the month before.
The beach. My white dress. Ethan behind me, his arms around my waist.
The photographer had called out several times,
“Groom, give me a smile.”
I had just lifted the frame off its hook when the front door opened.
“What are you doing?”
Ethan didn’t even take off his shoes. He crossed the room in a few strides and grabbed the edge of the frame.
“Claire, didn’t I say I’d come back tonight and explain?”
Megan stood in the entryway.
She was still holding a cake she had just bought.
“Claire…”
Her eyes…
“Don’t blame Ethan. I begged him to do it.”
“For the past two months, Noah has asked me every day why other kids get to go to Westbridge and he can’t.”
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
I let go of the frame.
“So you married my fiance.”
Her face went pale.
“It wasn’t like that. We just signed the legal paperwork.”
“Where is it?”
Megan did not move.
Ethan frowned. “Why do you need to see it?”
“I want to see what you signed.”
“Claire.”
“You won’t show me?”
Megan hurriedly opened her purse.
“I will. Here.”
She pulled out a certified copy of the marriage record and the courthouse photo.
The photo was clearer than the one on Instagram.
Megan’s smile was stiff.
Ethan was smiling too.
I looked at the first page.
Marriage date: August 17.
Today.
“That was fast.”
I closed the paperwork and handed it back.
Tears slipped down Megan’s cheeks.
“Claire, if you want to yell at someone, yell at me.”
“I really didn’t know what else to do.”
“Noah’s father is barely involved, my mom’s health isn’t good, and I’ve been doing everything on my own for years. You know how hard it is to get into Westbridge…”
“I know.”
She froze.
“You do?”
“Last year, when you paid twenty thousand dollars to a consultant and the residency plan fell through, I went with you to get your money back.”
“Two years ago, when you wanted to buy that tiny old condo and couldn’t cover the down payment, I was the one who talked you out of taking a loan at that interest rate.”
“I know most of what goes on in your life.”
Megan’s lips parted, then closed.
I pulled the second wall hook free.
“Which means you also knew I was supposed to marry Ethan tomorrow.”
The living room went silent.
Ethan stepped forward.
“Enough.”
“She already told you she begged me for help. Why are you going after her?”
“Would you rather I take it out on you?”
“I already explained it.”
“And once you explain it, I’m supposed to be fine with it?”
“Then what do you want?”
Ethan tossed his keys onto the console by the door.
“We’re already legally married, and Noah’s residency documents are due the day after tomorrow. We can’t back out now.”
“A year from now, Megan and I get divorced. Then you and I get married.”
“The wedding still happens. You still wear the ring. The only thing that changes is when we make it legal. What else is different?”
I looked at him.
“Whose husband are you right now?”