Chapter 4

Crash.

Ryan shot to his feet, his chair toppling backward.

"Dad, what are you talking about?"

He turned and stared at me.

"Jade, tell me. Is he lying? He has to be lying."

I looked into his eyes calmly.

"It's true. My mom passed away. On Christmas Eve."

"That's impossible." Ryan's voice cracked.

"Jade, why didn't you tell me something this important?"

"Mom was in the hospital and you didn't call me?"

"Enough." Harold's voice boomed.

"Jade did call you. I called you too. But what did you do?"

Harold pointed at Celeste.

"You were busy with some woman. You hung up on me before I could even finish. And now you're blaming Jade? How did I raise a son like you?"

"No. No, that's not—" Ryan's forehead glistened with sweat.

"Dad, I didn't know. I swear. I thought—I thought Jade was just complaining to you, trying to guilt me into coming home."

"Jade, you know how much your mom meant to me. How could I not care? I really didn't know."

"If I had known, I would've dropped everything to be at the hospital."

Celeste spoke up in a soft voice. "Jade, don't blame Ryan. It's my fault. I saw how exhausted he was and told him to rest. If you're going to blame anyone, blame me."

"I'm sorry."

She stood and gave me a small bow.

I stayed seated and said calmly, "I don't blame you. I don't blame Ryan either. Mom just had bad luck. So did I."

"Dad, it doesn't look like we'll be having lunch today. I'm going to head out."

I stood and walked toward the door.

"Wait." Ryan grabbed my wrist hard enough to hurt.

"Where is she? Where's your mother's body? I need to kneel before her and beg for forgiveness."

I gently pulled my wrist free, my movements soft but firm.

"You don't need to. My mom probably doesn't want to see you."

When Ryan and I got married, Mom was so happy. She told me more than once to treat him well.

She said it wasn't easy for two people to make it to marriage—that we could argue, but we should never say cruel things, and never talk about divorce lightly.

I took it to heart. After we married, I never fought with him. I swallowed every bit of hurt.

But what happened on Christmas Eve made me see the truth: love isn't just about compromise.

No matter how much I gave, how much I bent, if our hearts weren't in the same place, we'd never make it work.

In Ryan's heart, Celeste always came first.

His love was never really mine.

"Jade."