Chapter 1
Everyone in town knew about the promise Andrew Rivers and I had made.
Every year on the fall equinox, he would meet me at Rivergate Pier. If he showed up, we'd finally set a date for our wedding. I waited six years.
The first year, he said something urgent had come up at work. The second, he blamed a highway closure. The third, he got into a minor car accident. He was only scraped up, but I was so worried I couldn't sleep all night.
He had an excuse in years four and five, too.
By the sixth year, I'd learned to make excuses for him myself. "He doesn't want to stand me up. He's just busy." I'd said it so many times that even Mom was tired of hearing it.
On the morning of the equinox, she stood in the kitchen doorway and watched me put on makeup. "Evelyn, are you still going today?"
"Of course," I said.
"What if he doesn't show up again?" Mom asked.
My hand paused with the lipstick. "He will."
Mom gave a cold laugh. "You say that every year."
I didn't answer. Truthfully, I wasn't sure, either.
Andrew had texted the night before to promise he'd come this time.
He'd sounded so sincere that I stared at his message for a long while before deciding to believe him: [Evelyn, I won't keep you waiting this time.]
At three that afternoon, I arrived at Rivergate Pier. The wind was strong, and sunlight glittered across the river. I wore the cream-colored dress Andrew had once said looked best on me.
Four o'clock came and went. Then five. He still hadn't shown up. I called, but he didn't answer.
A little after six, his assistant texted me: [Ms. Grant, Mr. Rivers has an urgent matter and may not make it.]
I stared at the message and almost laughed. I thought, 'Another urgent matter. For six years, he'd had one every fall equinox, and I'd believed him every time.'
I was about to head home when Chloe Lane called. "Are you still at the pier, Evelyn?"
"I am," I said.
"Why don't you go home? she asked after a brief silence. It's so windy.
I heard something off in her voice. "Do you know where he is?"
"I don't," Chloe said.
"Chloe," I said.
She fell silent.
Unease tightened in my chest. "Where is Andrew?"
"Don't ask, Evelyn," Chloe said.
Her answer only made me more suspicious. I hung up and took a cab to Andrew's office. The staff told me he'd left that afternoon.
"Where did he go?" I asked.
The receptionist hesitated. "I think... The hospital."
I thought, 'The hospital? Had something happened to him?'
My hands went cold on the ride over, and I practically ran into the building. But when I reached the second floor of the inpatient wing, I heard a familiar voice.
"Stop keeping this from Evelyn," Michael Woods, Andrew's friend, said.
I stopped outside a room whose door hadn't quite closed.
"What would telling her now accomplish?" someone asked. "Andrew's kept it from her for six years. One more time won't matter."
My mind went blank. Six years. I stood in the hallway, afraid to breathe too loudly.
Then I heard Chloe. "But Evelyn's still waiting for him at the pier today."
"Let her wait," Michael sighed. "She's done it five times already."
Someone laughed. "Andrew says Evelyn's easy to placate. A couple of sweet words and she'll forgive him. She'd never really leave."
I went rigid.
"What are you going to tell her this year?" someone asked.
"Work emergency," someone said.
"You used that last year," someone else replied.
"Then say Nina got sick and he had to take her to the hospital."
Someone lowered their voice. "Are you crazy? You can't let Evelyn find out about Nina."
The room went quiet. Then Andrew spoke. "Don't tell her." His voice was calm, without a trace of hesitation.
My chest felt as if something had lodged in it. Someone in the room said, "Andrew, you've got to admit it's strange. Nina has an emergency every equinox, six years in a row."
Andrew said nothing.
The person chuckled. "Do you think she does it on purpose?"
"Don't say that." Andrew finally spoke. "She's alone here. If something happens to her, who else is going to help?"
"What about Evelyn?" someone asked.
The room fell even quieter. After a few seconds, Andrew said flatly, "She'll understand."