I drove back to my shop without turning on the radio.

The silence felt strangely peaceful.

For three months, silence had been my enemy.

It had reminded me of Adrian.

It had reminded me of the empty side of my bed.

It had reminded me that I would never hear his voice again.

But now the silence felt different.

For the first time, I wasn’t waiting for someone who was never coming back.

When I reached the shop, Kendra was waiting.

She took one look at me and knew not to ask too many questions.

“Did you find out who he was?”

I nodded.

“Yes.”

“And?”

I placed my florist badge on the counter.

“He was exactly the man I thought he was.”

Kendra stared at me.

“I thought you loved him.”

“I did.”

“Then how can you say that?”

I looked around the shop.

At the roses.

At the greenery.

At the bouquets waiting to be delivered.

“I loved the man I thought he was.”

I swallowed.

“I just didn’t know he didn’t exist.”

Kendra came around the counter and hugged me.

This time, I didn’t resist.

I cried against her shoulder.

Not because I wanted Adrian back.

Because I finally understood that the person I had been mourning was partly a memory I had created.

That night, I went home and opened the box I had kept under my bed.

Inside were the things from our wedding planning.

The venue brochure.

The seating chart.

The invitation samples.

The little notebook where I had written flower ideas.

And the wedding cake notes.

I smiled when I saw them.

“We’re seriously fighting over cake now?”

I could almost hear him saying it.

For a moment, the old pain returned.

Then I closed the notebook.

I didn’t burn it.

I didn’t throw it away.

I simply put it back in the box.

Because those memories had belonged to me too.

Adrian didn’t get to take them away just because he had betrayed me.

The next morning, Colleen came to my shop.

I almost didn’t let her in.

She stood outside the glass door for several minutes before I finally unlocked it.

She looked exhausted.

Older than she had the day before.

“Can I talk to you?”

I stepped aside.

She entered slowly.

For several seconds, neither of us spoke.

Then she said the words I had been waiting to hear.

“I am sorry.”

I nodded.

“I know.”

“No, Meredith. You don’t.”

She looked down at her hands.

“I thought if I helped Adrian disappear, he would eventually realize what he was doing and come back to you.”

I stared at her.

“He never planned to come back.”

“I know that now.”

“Why did you let me believe he was dead?”

She started crying.

“Because he begged me.”

I felt something tighten inside my chest.

“He begged you?”

“He said he couldn’t face you. He said he couldn’t face the wedding. He said Sarah was the person he wanted to be with.”

I closed my eyes.

“So you chose him.”

“Yes.”

“And you knew what that choice would do to me.”

She nodded.

“I was selfish.”

For the first time, I believed her.

Not because I forgave her.

Because she wasn’t trying to defend herself anymore.

I walked to the window.

Outside, people were passing by with their ordinary lives.

People going to work.

People carrying groceries.

People laughing.

The world had continued while I had been grieving someone who was still alive.

That realization hurt in a way I couldn’t explain.

Colleen stepped closer.

“I know I can’t fix what I did.”

“No.”

“But there is something else you should know.”

I turned around.

She hesitated.

Then she reached into her purse and placed a small envelope on my counter.

I stared at it.

“What is that?”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“Something Adrian left behind before the accident.”

I didn’t touch it.

“Why didn’t you give it to me before?”

She looked away.

“Because I was afraid of what it would tell you.”

And when I finally opened that envelope, I discovered there was one more secret Adrian had kept from me.[]