Every December [Soon to be Self Published]

Chapter 2

Lydia

I'm fine. I'M FINE. Everything's--shit. As the snow falls harder from the impossibly black sky, I glance at the clock on the dashboard. Midnight already. The silk is cool on my dress, offering little warmth over my skin and my bare feet feel sticky in the sneakers. I'm uncomfortable as I look, but I hadn't planned on running away from my best friend's wedding. As the road passes under my headlights, I still can't believe I actually left the way I did. Annapolis is a fading memory in the rear view and the unfamiliar trees of New Hampshire surround me. Where the hell is this town, anyway?

The small arrow on my phone spins around on the GPS map recalculates. A tiny red blip in the middle of nowhere. That arrow is alone as I feel. A tiny red dot on a line going nowhere. My optimism vanished miles ago, and the radio music has become background noise. I keep it on to help with the silence. If I start sobbing, I won't stop.

All because of secrets.

The man I'm supposed to marry has been keeping a few. Supposed to? No, was going to marry. I can't now. The look on his face when he said the words causes me to grip the steering wheel harder. When I had arrived at the wedding tonight, I had been someone's fiancée. Now? I'm single. Again.

The cell phone lights up with the photo of my friend, Ashley Chen. A press of the accept button while keeping a determined gaze on the road. "Ashley?"

"Where are you?" Concern thrives in her voice. 

"Nowhere near Maryland anymore."

"You can still turn around."

"I could, but I don't I want to." Focus on the road ahead. City buildings appear in clusters and give way to more stretches of land. "Does McKenna know?"

"Yes," she says regretfully.

I sigh. "I didn't want her wedding to end this way."

"Garrett ended your engagement at his sister's wedding, that's on him."

The pained look on his face had been sincere, but damn him for doing this now. For breaking my heart when he was supposed to protect it. Heat sears off my hope like he took a hot poker to my skin and I stiffen my shoulders against the seat. Warm tears blur my vision. They fall and stream down my cheeks as I glance between the phone and the road. "I need to focus on driving."

"You text me the second you get there."

"Are you sure? Your family won't mind?" It's the tenth time I've asked, and I'm second-guessing whether using Ashley's family's vacation home is a good idea.

"We aren't coming up for another three weeks. The place is yours. This will be a chance to put distance between you and Garrett."

Good. Because I need distance. "I'll text when I arrive."

"I'm sorry," she says with disbelief, "I can't believe he did that. What's wrong with him? Seriously? And it's the holidays."

You and me both. "I have to go."

The word blindsided doesn't adequately define what just happened tonight. One minute, Garrett, my pale gray-eyed fiancé whom I'm set to marry in March was dancing with me. Next thing I know? He guides me to the balcony springing on me about a fellowship he had applied for last spring had come through and that he had accepted his dream position at the Royal Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa-without my knowledge.

Resting my head back, replaying how I could barely keep up with what he was telling me. Something-his eyes had shifted with his voice and that awful feeling takes root again. The job begins January 15. It's like he woke up one morning and said, "I think I'll cancel the wedding." His exact words had been crueler and my heart ices over and encapsulates the pain as his words play again in my thoughts. This is something I have to do on my own.