My Best Friend Redeemed My Fiancé, So I Gave Her the Wedding novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: One Last Pass

Colin's spreadsheet shows the hospital day was a test, Bridget packs out, and Kendra asks to be bride for a day.

Colin sent me the spreadsheet because he thought it would prove I was overreacting.

I had texted him one request: every pass, with dates, reasons and who approved each one.

He wrote back: Fine. Check our math.

The file had four tabs.

Issued. Redeemed. Upcoming. Notes.

I opened Notes.

The first line said: Dinner. K drinks from B's glass. See if Bridget steps in.

The next one said: Weekend trip. K takes the front seat. Nobody offers to switch.

Then: Anniversary. B leaves his phone unanswered until Bridget calls twice.

Every line had a result column.

Every result had a number next to it, one pass or two passes or a full weekend.

I scrolled until I found the date of Mom's surgery.

High-stakes test. No exceptions. She has to learn she doesn't come first.

The approval column held Brett's initials.

I read the line twice.

Then I called Colin.

"You planned it," I said.

"Planned what?"

"The glass. The trip. My anniversary."

"We had to give you chances to practice."

"My mother's surgery?"

He sighed. "Bridget, we've been over this."

I checked the clock.

Kendra had posted a photo of a takeout spread ten minutes earlier, with Brett's coffee table behind it.

I took a cab to his apartment.

Trent opened the door holding a carton of noodles.

"Hey, there she is," he said.

Kendra was curled up on the couch.

She was wearing my slippers.

Brett stood up. "Are you ready to talk?"

I held out my phone with the spreadsheet on the screen.

"Did you approve this?"

His eyes moved down the page.

Then he looked at Colin.

Colin shrugged. "She asked for the records."

"I'm asking you," I said to Brett.

"Yes."

He said it without any pause.

"You knew I'd be alone at the hospital."

"I knew you'd be upset."

"I was scared."

"And your mom was with a surgical team. There was nothing I could have done there."

"You could have sat next to me."

Kendra set down her fork.

"I offered to give the pass back," she said.

"You knew the date when you used it."

She looked at Brett.

He stepped over to her. "Don't put this on Kendra. I made the call."

"I know you did," I said.

Something in my voice made him stop.

Trent put his noodles on the coffee table. "Nobody wanted anything to happen to your mom."

"You just didn't mind if it did."

Colin rubbed the back of his neck. "It was a test, Bridget."

"A test of what?"

Nobody answered.

"How much I'd let you do before I left?"

Brett gave a short laugh. "You're not leaving over this."

I looked around the room.

At the framed photos I had hung on his shelves.

At the blanket my mother knitted for us.

At the couch where Kendra sat with her feet in my slippers.

"I came for my things," I said.

His smile went away. "Don't start."

I took two bags from the hall closet and went into the bedroom.

He followed me in.

"You're actually doing this?"

I folded my sweaters into the first bag.

"We have one pass left," he said.

I kept folding.

"One day. You've waited this long and you're going to blow it all up for one day?"

I put my passport in my purse.

He watched me zip it.

Then he reached into his pocket and held out his palm.

My engagement ring was in it.

A few weeks earlier he had kept it for three days, saying the setting needed checking.

"I'll put it back on your hand when this is over," he said.

I picked up both bags.

He stayed in the doorway.

"What if I'm done now?" I asked.

He stared at me.

Then his face softened into the look he wore when he thought I was being unreasonable but sweet.

"You've loved me since we were nineteen," he said. "You're not going anywhere."

I waited.

After a while he stepped aside.

Trent offered to carry a bag, and I told him no.

That night the director in Portland called me back.

She had an opening on her team, a little better pay than I had asked about, and a start date three weeks out.

"Is that enough time for you?" she asked.

"Yes."

Mom was sitting next to me on her couch when I booked our flights.

I picked the evening of the wedding.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"About leaving him?"

"About waiting until that night."

I showed her the confirmation for her follow-up appointment that afternoon.

"We'll go right after," I said.

She nodded.

I emailed the planner that I would not be the bride, and asked her to have my garment bag and my other things ready for me to collect that morning.

She called to be sure I meant it.

I did.

Then I started a message to both families and attached the records.

Before I could send it, Kendra forwarded me a screenshot.

It was from their four-person chat.

Kendra had written: For my last pass, can I be the bride for a day?

Trent answered with a row of laughing faces.

Colin wrote: Full experience. The walk, the vows, the rings, the cake, the photos.

Kendra wrote: Too much? We don't have to.

Brett's reply sat right under it.

Sure. It's the last one.

A second message from Kendra came in on top.

You don't mind, right? After that he's all yours.

I saved that too.

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