Finally Moving On After A Decade novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Last Night
On the final night of Couples' Week, Nolan's fiancée kisses the man who wouldn't let her go in front of six hundred guests, and Nolan puts the ring on the podium and leaves. His hook: the other man says to ask her how many times she called him this month.
At nine o'clock on the last night of the charity week, the emcee asked six hundred people to look at the big screen.
I stood at the back of the hotel ballroom with a glass of water I wasn't drinking.
The screen showed seven days of photos.
In every one of them my fiancée, Lydia, held the sleeve of Brooks Ferrin's jacket.
In every one of them Brooks had both hands in his pockets.
Lydia said Brooks had never let her go since college, and I had believed her for ten years.
Brooks had pledged two million dollars to the hospice where her mother died, if Lydia stood beside him for the week.
I had said yes, because it was seven days and I had sat at that bed on the last night.
That morning Lydia fixed my collar in the hallway mirror.
"It's one more night, Nolan," she said. "He means nothing to me. After this you'll never hear his name again."
I kissed her forehead and believed that too.
On the stage the emcee read out the total.
Six hundred people stood up and clapped.
Brooks walked to the microphone and waited until the room was quiet.
"Before the check goes in the envelope," he said, "one more thing."
He turned to Lydia and smiled at her.
"Lydia, don't tell me you've lost your nerve. A week of holding my arm is easy. Kiss me for real, for the house, in front of everybody."
Somebody in the crowd laughed.
"Whoever backs out first is a coward," Brooks said.
Lydia looked across the ballroom and found me at the back.
She had promised me in our kitchen on Sunday that she would touch him only when a photo needed it.
I shook my head once.
She turned back to him.
Brooks kept his hands in his pockets.
Lydia took his face in both hands and kissed him.
It went on long enough for the room to start cheering.
Phones went up all over the ballroom.
The camera operator swung to the stage, and the big screen filled with my fiancée's mouth on his.
We had ten years together, three of them engaged, and a condo I had bought and painted myself.
I put my glass down on the nearest table.
So I stepped out.
I walked up the center aisle with six hundred people turning their heads.
Nobody stopped me.
I climbed the three steps to the stage and crossed to the podium, where the oversized check lay in its gold frame.
Lydia let go of Brooks.
"Nolan," she said, and her voice shook. "It was for the house. You know it was for the house."
I took the ring off my finger and set it on the podium, next to the check.
"You got your two million," I said. "Seven days. We're done."
Her mouth opened, and the microphone caught a small sound that went out over the speakers.
Brooks was looking at me.
He wasn't smiling anymore.
I went down the steps on the far side and kept walking.
At the side door a woman in a black dress was holding a bottle of water out to me.
She had a pencil stuck behind her ear, and a name tag that said Freja Thorndyke, Director.
She had seated me at the back table that afternoon because I told her I wanted to be able to leave.
"The coat check is on your left and the garage is the second door after it," she said. "Take the water."
I took it.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I'll make them look at me for a minute."
She walked past me onto the stage, took the microphone out of Lydia's hand, and said brightly, "Ladies and gentlemen, the check."
The applause started again.
I was in the garage before it ended.
My truck was on the third level.
I was reaching for the door handle when I heard shoes behind me.
Brooks had followed me out.
He stopped ten feet away and kept both hands in his jacket pockets.
"Don't go home tonight," he said.
I said nothing.
"Ask her how many times she called me this month," he said.
I got in the truck and drove, and I told myself he would say anything.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend