Chapter 1 - The Four Words
And beneath it, in Nora’s handwriting, were four words:
*“Time to grow up.”*
The paper trembled in my hand, but inside, every nerve went dead and cold. It wasn’t a spontaneous gesture of misguided love. It wasn’t a bride naively hoping to heal an estranged family on her big day. It was an orchestrated public trial. A forced recantation where I would be pressured, in front of eighty-six family members, colleagues, and mutual friends, to surrender my reality and kiss the hand that had broken my bones.
“Mason?” Drew’s voice crackled through the phone speaker. “Where are you? Her father is standing by the chapel doors. Nora’s mother is whispering to guests that you’re having a panic attack, but they’re covering for you. What do you want me to do?”
“Walk out, Drew,” I said quietly. My voice didn’t shake. The panic had burned away, replaced by an absolute, freezing clarity. “Take your suit off. Go to your car. Don’t cause a scene, don’t answer their questions. Just leave.”
“Mason, what about you?”
“I’m already gone.”
I disconnected the call. The black rental SUV I had ordered pulled up to the curb of the hotel. I tossed my garment bag into the trunk, climbed into the back seat, and stared out the tinted window as the Blue Ridge mountains loomed against the pale afternoon sky.
My phone immediately buzzed. A text from Nora:
*“Where are you? The organist started the prelude. Everyone is waiting. Don’t do this to me. You’re ruining our day.”*
I didn’t reply. I opened the messaging app, blocked her number, blocked her parents, and then blocked the two numbers I had memorized since childhood—numbers that had haunted my caller ID through high school, college, and every silent holiday since.
The driver glanced in the rearview mirror. “Where to, sir?”
May you like
“Anywhere north,” I said. “Just get on the highway and drive.”
***