Chapter Four: Dealing With Reality
1828 Words
Marcus’s expression told her everything she needed to know. “He came by about twenty minutes ago. With another man. They took several suitcases.”
So he’d actually left. Good. Isabella nodded. “Thank you.”
The elevator ride to the fourteenth floor felt eternal. Jade stood beside her, a solid presence. Isabella’s hands were shaking again. She pressed them against the silk of her dress.
“What if he’s still there?”
“Then I throw him out the window,” Jade said calmly. “It’s only fourteen stories. He might survive.”
“Jade.”
“Fine. Thirteen stories. The first floor doesn’t count.”
Despite everything, a small smile tugged at Isabella’s mouth. “What would I do without you?”
“Fortunately, you’ll never have to find out.”
The elevator dinged. Fourteenth floor. Isabella walked down the familiar hallway to 14C, her heels clicking against the tile. Her hands fumbled with her keys.
Jade took them gently. “Let me.”
The door swung open. The apartment looked the same. Hardwood floors, exposed brick, the open-concept living room and kitchen that had sold her on the place. But it felt different. Emptier.
Isabella walked inside slowly. The couch where she and Adrian had watched movies. The kitchen where they’d cooked dinner together. The breakfast bar where they’d sat every morning, drinking coffee and talking about their days.
All of it contaminated now.
She moved to the bedroom. The closet door was open. Adrian’s side was empty. Wire hangers swung gently. His dresser drawers were cleaned out. The bathroom counter was missing his cologne, his razor, his toothbrush.
He'd really left. Just packed up and walked away from four years like it was nothing.
Isabella sank onto the bed. Their bed. How many times had Vanessa been here? In this apartment? In this room?
“Oh God.” Her stomach lurched. “Jade, do you think they…”
“Don’t.” Jade was beside her immediately. “Don’t torture yourself thinking about it.”
“They had to have. She was here all the time. Coming over for dinner. Staying the night when she was too drunk to go home. All those times Adrian said he’d take care of her, make sure she got home safe.” Isabella looked at her friend. “He was sleeping with her. In my home. Maybe in my bed.”
“We’re burning the sheets,” Jade announced. “Right now. Tonight. We’re burning them and getting you a whole new bedroom set.”
“I can’t afford that. I just spent every penny I had on a wedding that didn’t happen.” The reality of it hit her. “The reception. The venue. The food. The photographer. I already paid for all of it.”
“Can you get refunds?”
“I don’t know. Maybe partial. The contract said ” Isabella’s voice broke. “I’d have to read the contract. I can’t. I can’t think about this right now.”
Her phone rang. She looked at the screen. Mom.
“I should answer.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
But Isabella answered. “Mom.”
“Isabella Marie Hart, where are you?” Patricia’s voice was shrill. “You left the church. We’re all here trying to deal with this disaster and you just disappeared.”
“I went home.”
“You need to come back. We need to talk about how to handle this. The guests are confused. Some of them already went to the reception venue. This is a nightmare.”
“For you?” The words came out sharp. “This is a nightmare for you?”
“That’s not what I meant. Of course this is hard for you. But we need to make decisions. Do we cancel the reception? Do we tell people to go home? Your father is beside himself.”
“Where’s Vanessa?”
Silence.
“Mom, where is Vanessa?”
“She left with Adrian.”
Of course she did. Isabella closed her eyes. “They’re together?”
“She said she needed to make sure he was okay. That he was upset.” Patricia’s voice wavered. “Bella, I don’t understand how this happened. Vanessa said they fell in love. That it just happened. She’s crying. She feels terrible.”
“She should feel terrible. She destroyed my life.”
“Don’t be dramatic.”
The words hit like a slap. “Dramatic? Mom, she slept with my fiancé. For six months. And he left me at the altar for her. In front of everyone we know. How is that dramatic?”
“I just meant that you’re young. You’ll recover. You’ll find someone else.”
Isabella couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you seriously trying to make this okay right now?”
“I’m trying to be practical. Yes, Vanessa made a mistake. A big one. But she’s your sister. And she says she’s in love with him.”
“So that makes it fine? She loves him, so it doesn’t matter that she betrayed me?”
“That’s not what I’m saying.” But Patricia’s tone said exactly that. “I’m saying that maybe we all need to calm down and think rationally about this. Adrian is a good man from a good family. If Vanessa and he have feelings for each other, maybe it’s for the best that this came out before you got married.”
Isabella stood up, fury propelling her to her feet. “Are you listening to yourself? You’re taking their side.”
“There are no sides. You’re both my daughters.”
“One of your daughters just ruined the other one’s life. You need to pick a side, Mom.”
“Don’t make me choose between you and your sister.”
“You already did.” Isabella’s voice was cold. “The second you asked me to be rational about this. To understand. To think about Vanessa’s feelings. You chose.”
“Bella, that’s not fair.”
“Tell the guests to go home. Cancel the reception. I don’t care. Do whatever you want. I’m done.”
She hung up. Her hands were shaking so hard she nearly dropped the phone.
Jade took it from her. “Your mother is unbelievable.”
“She’s protecting Vanessa. She always protects Vanessa.” Isabella’s voice was hollow. “The baby. The one who needs help. The one who can’t take care of herself. I’m the strong one. I’m the one who has her s**t together. So I don’t need protecting.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“That’s my family.
Isabella looked around the bedroom. At the bed she couldn’t sleep in. The apartment that didn’t feel like home anymore. The life that had been ripped away from her.
“I need to get out of this dress.”
She went to the closet, to the section that was still hers. Pulled out sweatpants and an old NYU t-shirt. Her fingers were clumsy on the remaining buttons of the wedding dress.
Jade helped her. “Here.”
The dress pooled at Isabella’s feet, a puddle of white silk and shattered dreams. She stepped out of it and pulled on the comfortable clothes. Took the pins out of her hair and let the curls tumble down. Went to the bathroom and scrubbed the makeup off her face.
When she looked in the mirror, she barely recognized herself.
Her eyes were red and swollen. Her face was blotchy. She looked like she’d been crying for hours.
She had been.
Isabella walked back into the bedroom. Jade was on the phone with someone, her voice low and fierce.
“I don’t care what he wants… No, she’s not taking his calls… Tell him to lose her number or I’ll get a restraining order… Yeah, that’s what I thought. Lose this number too.”
She hung up. “Adrian’s best man. Apparently Adrian is devastated and wants to talk to you.”
“Devastated.” Isabella sat on the edge of the bed. “He’s devastated.”
“Tyler said Adrian is at a hotel. That Vanessa is with him. That he feels terrible but he hopes you can eventually understand.”
“Understand what? That he’s in love with my sister? That he humiliated me in front of everyone I know? What exactly am I supposed to understand?”
Jade sat beside her. “Nothing. You’re not supposed to understand anything. You’re supposed to be angry and hurt and absolutely furious. Because what they did is unforgivable.”
“My mom doesn’t think so.”
“Your mom is wrong.” Jade took Isabella’s hand. “Listen to me. You are the victim here. Not Adrian. Not Vanessa. You. They betrayed you in the worst possible way. And anyone who asks you to understand or forgive or be rational can go straight to hell.
Tears leaked from Isabella’s eyes again. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Right now? Nothing. You do nothing. You sit here. You cry. You scream if you want to. You let yourself feel it.” Jade squeezed her hand. “Tomorrow we’ll start dealing with everything. The apartment. The deposits. Work. All of it. But tonight, you just survive.”
Isabella nodded. She didn’t trust herself to speak.
Her phone buzzed again. Another text. She didn’t look at it. Couldn’t.
“I really thought I knew him,” she whispered. “Adrian. I thought we were happy.”
“Maybe he was good at lying.”
“Or maybe I was stupid.
“You weren’t stupid. You were in love. You trusted him. That’s not stupid. That’s human.”
Isabella lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The ceiling she’d stared at countless times before. But everything was different now.
“How do I come back from this?”
Jade lay down beside her, their shoulders touching. “One day at a time. One hour at a time. One minute at a time if you have to.”
“I was supposed to be married right now.”
“I know.”
“I was supposed to be happy.”
“I know.”
“I hate them.” The words came out fierce. “I hate them both so much.”
“Good,” Jade said. “Hold onto that. Hate will get you through this better than sadness will.”
They lay there in silence. Outside, the sun was setting over Riverside City. The room filled with shadows. Isabella could hear traffic from the street below, the distant sound of sirens, life continuing on like nothing had happened.
But everything had happened.
Her phone buzzed again. And again. And again.
Isabella closed her eyes and let the tears come.
Tomorrow she’d figure out how to survive this.
Tonight, she’d just let herself break.
- Writer
