THE REHEARSAL
632 Words
Friday came anyway.
The day of the wedding that wasn't.
I woke up early, before the sun, and lay in bed listening to Julian breathe. The apartment was quiet. The city was quiet. The world outside held its breath.
"I know you're awake," Julian murmured.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't." He rolled over, pulled me close. "What are you thinking about?"
"The wedding. What was supposed to happen today."
"Are you sad?"
"I don't know." I rested my head on his chest. "I thought I would be. I thought I would wake up and feel like I'd lost something."
"And you don't?"
"I feel like I dodged something." I looked up at him. "Like I've been standing in the middle of a road for five years, and I finally stepped onto the sidewalk."
Julian smiled.
"That's a very specific metaphor."
"I'm a very specific person."
He kissed my forehead. "Yes, you are."
---
Vanessa called at nine.
"Today's the day," she said.
"I know."
"I'm not sad."
"Me neither."
"I thought I would be. I thought I would wake up and want to put on the dress and pretend everything was fine."
"What do you want instead?"
"To have breakfast with you." There was a pause. "Is that weird?"
"No." I smiled. "That's not weird at all."
---
We met at a diner near my apartment.
Booths. Coffee. Pancakes that cost less than the champagne at Vanessa's wedding would have cost. It was nothing like the brunch she would have had at the Sterling estate.
Vanessa was wearing jeans. A sweater. No makeup. Her hair was in a ponytail.
"You look different," I said.
"I feel different." She poured syrup on her pancakes. "Lighter."
"Good different?"
"Good different." She looked at me. "I talked to my mother."
"What did she say?"
"She said I was making a mistake. That Daniel was the best thing that ever happened to me. That I'd regret walking away."
"And what did you say?"
"I said she was wrong." Vanessa set down her fork. "I said I'd rather be alone than married to a man who lied to me. I said I'd rather figure out who I was than spend my life being who someone else wanted me to be."
I felt something swell in my chest.
"I'm proud of you," I said.
"Really?"
"Really." I reached across the table. Took her hand. "You're not the same woman who walked into my studio six months ago."
"Neither are you."
I looked at our hands. Sister hands. The same father, different mothers, different lives.
"No," I said. "I'm not."
---
Julian picked us up after breakfast.
We drove to the studio. Lena was already there, arranging fabric samples, pretending she wasn't emotional.
"It's just another day," she said, when she saw us.
"It's not, though," Vanessa said.
"No." Lena's voice softened. "It's not."
We spent the morning together.
Vanessa helped me organize the workroom. Julian worked on a dress he'd been designing for months. Lena answered emails and made phone calls and kept the business running.
It was ordinary. Mundane. Nothing like the wedding that was supposed to be happening.
And it was perfect.
---
At noon, my phone rang.
Helen.
"The divorce is final," she said.
I sat down.
"What?"
"The judge signed the papers this morning. You're free, Maya." Helen's voice was warm. "Daniel Sterling is no longer your husband."
I looked across the room.
Julian was watching me. Vanessa was watching me. Lena was watching me.
"I'm free," I said.
The room erupted.
Vanessa hugged me. Lena hugged me. Julian took my face in his hands and kissed me, right there, in front of everyone.
"You're free," he said.
"I'm free."
For the first time in five years, I believed it.
- Writer
