Chapter 6

At seven that evening, the rain came down hard.

I said goodbye to my grandmother and got ready to go to the hotel in town.

But when I walked out the gate, Ryan's car was still parked at the curb.

Ryan put his window down. "Renee, get in. I'll drop you at the hotel on the way."

I stopped for a second and started toward him, and the passenger door opened.

Chloe was curled up in the seat in a thin silk dress, shaking, her voice wet.

She said, "Ryan, I feel terrible. I think I have a fever. My head is spinning."

Ryan's face changed. He got out of his belt and put a hand on her forehead.

He said, "Why are you this hot? Chloe, hold on. I'm taking you to the hospital right now."

Then he turned to me, standing there under my umbrella, and said it fast and as though it were obvious.

"Renee, Chloe has a fever and this is an emergency. I don't know these roads, so I have to run the navigation and get her to the county hospital. Grab a cab to the hotel."

Thunder went across the sky.

The flash lit up Ryan's face, and there was nothing on it but worry for her.

He didn't wait for me to answer.

Before the words were finished, he hit the gas, and the Land Rover shot into the rain.

The tires threw a wall of water over my skirt, and it went straight through to my skin.

I stood there in the storm and watched those red taillights get smaller in the rain until they were gone.

The rain soaked my hair and ran into my eyes, and it tasted bitter.

The wedding was the next day.

And my groom had left me alone on a rainy night in a small town with no cabs, for another woman with a fever.

I stood there a long time.

Then I reached into my pocket for my phone.

I took out the SIM card I had used for eight years, bent it until it broke, and dropped it into the flooded gutter.

Goodbye, Ryan.

I meant it for good.

I pulled my suitcase through that long, wet night alone.

I never went to Suite 308 at the Crown Grand Hotel.

I checked into a small motel near the airport and slept through the whole night.

*****

The next morning, at eight exactly.

The sky was clear, and the sun was out.

A long line of luxury cars sat outside the Crown Grand Hotel in town.

Nine Rolls-Royces were parked in a row, each one covered in red roses.

Ryan walked into the lobby in a sharp black suit, a groom's boutonniere on his chest, grinning, with his groomsmen and photographer behind him.

Chloe had only had a mild cold the night before, and she was fine once the fever came down.

Ryan felt a small pinch of guilt about leaving Renee.

But he decided that a grand pickup in front of everyone would give her all the face she could want, and the temper from the night before would burn off on its own.

"Mr. Carter, congratulations." The hotel manager came over smiling.

Ryan nodded and straightened his tie. "I'm here for the bride. Suite 308. Her name is Renee Winters."

The manager went through the register, and his brows drew together before he looked up with a professional smile.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Carter. Do you have the room number wrong? Nobody has ever checked into suite 308."