On the Sixth Thanksgiving, I Stopped Waiting for Him Chapter 04
“Claire, there’s something I’ve held on to all this time.”
“What is it?”
“Our wedding dress.”
Six years ago, we had designed a wedding dress together.
Julian had told me that only something we’d made with our own hands would ever be good enough for me.
My throat tightened, and it felt like a fist had closed around my heart.
“After you disappeared, I searched for you in almost every state in the country.”
“I printed tens of thousands of missing-person flyers and put them up in city after city.”
“Claire, I never gave up on you. Please believe me…”
He leaned over the steering wheel, his shoulders shaking.
I reached out. After a long hesitation, I finally rested my hand gently on his back.
“Julian, I want to try on that dress.”
He looked up sharply.
“Okay. We’ll go home and try it on right now.”
The car pulled back onto the road.
I leaned against the seat, and something that had been frozen inside me for six years began to thaw.
Then Julian’s phone lit up.
Vivian had sent him a voice message.
“Julian, I know I have no right to bother you now, but I’m really hurting…”
“When I fell down the stairs, all I could think about was you!”
“I’m scared I hurt myself so badly that I’ll never be able to paint again…”
Julian’s expression changed.
“Claire, I’ll send you the door code. Can you go there and try it on by yourself?”
“Vivian’s art show is in two days. If anything happens to her now, I’ll feel guilty for the rest of my life!”
I smiled and reached for my seat belt.
“Pull over.”
“Claire…”
“I said pull over.”
I shoved open the door. The wind stung the burn on my face, which hadn’t even begun to heal.
Julian sat in the car for several seconds.
Then he stepped on the gas.
His taillights vanished into the rain.
I stood alone on the side of the road, laughing like I’d lost my mind.
Tears mixed with rainwater and ran into my mouth, salty and bitter.
I was the only one still trapped in what had happened six years ago.
In the end, I decided to get the wedding dress. At the very least, I’d helped design it.
It took me nearly two hours to find the gated estate.
The security guard questioned me for a long time and only let me through after I gave him Julian’s name.
When the smart lock beeped, the door opened from the inside.
A housekeeper stood in the doorway and looked me over from head to toe.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Julian Prescott’s… friend. He told me to come try on the wedding dress.”
“The wedding dress?”
She gave a scornful laugh.
“That dress was made for Miss Reed. Who do you think you are?”
I froze.
“What did you say?”
“Miss Reed is getting engaged to Mr. Prescott as soon as her art show is over.”
“You need to leave. Don’t cause trouble, or I’ll call security.”
My breath caught in my throat.
“I helped make that dress!”
“You must be out of your mind if you think you’re going to become Mrs. Prescott. Desperate women like you show up at this door all the time.”
The door slammed shut in my face.
I stood in the rain and looked up at the light glowing in an upstairs bedroom.
Through the window, I could just make out a wedding dress hanging on a rack, white as snow.
My phone was dead. I had no money and nowhere to go.
I wandered along the highway all night, half out of my mind, until my feet were covered in blisters.
Thanksgiving was supposed to be a night for families to come together. Instead, I wandered through the dark like a ghost with nowhere to belong.
I looked up at the moon, round and bright above me.
After tonight, there would be nothing left worth waiting for.
