Part 2After the Sunflowers

At ten that night, the keypad lock chimed.

Adrian came in from the cold carrying a box of my favorite maple cream pastries.

The bakery was twelve miles in the opposite direction from the clinic where Celeste had spent the day.

He had made the detour anyway.

He set the box on the table and found me reading on the couch.

Then he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

He rested his chin against my neck with practiced intimacy, his voice low and gentle.

"Are you still mad? Celeste has a serious heart condition. She can't be left alone. You're going to be my wife, part of the Hawthorne family. Could you help me take care of her?"

Celeste never asked Adrian outright to stay with her.

She would simply murmur over the phone that he should not come because Clara might be upset.

Then, one breath later, she would cough until she could barely speak.

I closed my book. I did not pull away. I only asked one question.

"Adrian, what does July second mean? The date engraved on the back of your watch."

His fingers paused on my shoulder.

The hesitation was so brief that someone else might have missed it.

"It was the day I took over Hawthorne Group."

He smiled and adjusted the necklace I was already wearing.

"Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?"

I studied his reflection in the mirror.

Even when he lied, he remembered to make his voice softer.

"No reason. I was curious."

Relief crossed his face. He took my hand and led me to the jewelry cabinet.

He removed a diamond necklace worth more than most houses and fastened it around my throat.

"This is your graduation gift. At my thirtieth-birthday gala next month, I'm going to introduce you properly. Clara, you'll be the most dazzling future Mrs. Hawthorne in Cedarhaven."

He cupped my face as if he adored me.

Without that date, I might truly have believed his love ran that deep.

Adrian always thought expensive gifts and the title of Mrs. Hawthorne could make up for his absence from our relationship.

He never understood that I did not want any of those things.

I wanted to be the person he chose first.

Then his phone rang.

It was the ringtone he had assigned to one person.

Adrian answered, and all the color drained from his face.

"Celeste, don't do anything. Put the knife down. I'm coming right now!"

He grabbed his keys and rushed for the door without even taking a coat.

At the threshold, he looked back long enough to throw me an explanation.

"Clara, Celeste is having a breakdown. I have to go. Keep the necklace safe. I'll be back."

The door slammed shut.

The necklace pressed heavily against my collarbones.

I looked at myself in the mirror. The diamonds still glittered, but I had never felt cheaper.

He had not even bothered to invent a convincing lie.

July second was the day Celeste and Adrian's older brother finalized their divorce.

It was the day Celeste had written that she was finally free.

Adrian hid that shameful date beneath his watch while expecting me to wear his diamonds in public and protect his reputation.

I stepped closer to the mirror and calmly unfastened the necklace.

I dropped it into the trash with the unopened box of pastries.

Then I opened my laptop.

I signed a declaration declining any interest in Adrian's property, trusts, or future marital assets before relocating for school.

I clicked Send.

When the confirmation appeared, I withdrew from our three-year relationship with my own hand.

From then on, Adrian was no longer my first choice.

I organized the documents on my desk and shut down the computer.

The apartment became so quiet that I could hear the clock ticking.

I did not cry.

I had exhausted my tears during countless nights spent waiting for him to come home.

For the first time, the pressure in my chest began to ease.

One month remained.

After his birthday gala, I would leave Cedarhaven.

I would leave the man who had made it impossible to breathe.