Swapped a Week Before the Wedding, I Remarried Right Away

One week before the wedding, my boyfriend Lowell Sanchez and I were lying in bed playing a drawing game.

Whoever drew the red slip had to tell the other a secret they didn't know.

Lowell drew it.

He looked into my eyes and smiled, gentle as ever.

I was going to tell you in a couple of days, but this is as good a time as any.

He said each word slowly.

"I'm getting married."

I froze, then let out a small laugh.

"Right. Next week is our"

"Not to you."

The smile stiffened on my face.

My mind went blank.

"What do you mean? I waited eight whole years for you!"

He stroked my hair the way he always did, his voice apologetic.

"The company's in trouble. I have to marry the Pruitt daughter. Her family is the only one that can help us."

"I swear, the one I love will always be you."

I looked down at the empty right sleeve hanging there.

Years ago, in a car accident, I'd shielded him, and I lost my whole right arm because of it.

I still remembered how he'd once held me and cried and swore:

"From now on, I'll take care of you for the rest of your life."

So it turned out marrying someone else also counted as taking care of me for life.

"Don't be too upset about it. It's just a business marriage. Once I get through this stretch, I'll come straight back and marry you. All right?"

Lowell's voice was impossibly gentle, and my whole body went cold.

"You did so much for the company back then. You don't want it to go under either, do you?"

I sat there, stunned.

Years ago Lowell and I had started the company together. In the worst days we ate one meal not knowing where the next would come from.

In the end I was the one who led us through a big contract, and the company slowly got on its feet.

"So this is no different from every other decision we made back at the company. It's all for the company, for our future."

He was still watching me with a smile, an endless tenderness in his eyes.

But he'd forgotten that back when we were starting out, even at a dinner table with drinks, he would deliberately leave an empty seat between himself and any other woman.

He used to say:

"The company is the company. I'm not going to let it make my sweet Janice Fox jealous."

And now he wanted to go to a wedding for the company.

I drew a deep breath and made myself stay calm:

"Then what about our wedding next week?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. The venue stays the same venue. We just change the name."

Change the name.

So a wedding I'd looked forward to for eight years could be swapped out in the time it took to say one sentence.

I looked at Lowell. Those eyes were still as full of feeling as they'd been all those years ago.

But in the end, the person had changed.

"If you marry her, then we're done."

Lowell paused, confusion flickering in his eyes.

"Don't be like this. I know it's hard for you to take right now, and I should have told you sooner. But all of this is for the company, I swear."

He raised his right hand, four fingers straight, making the gesture of a vow.

It was exactly the same gesture as the one he'd made the year I lost my arm, when he'd sworn to me.

But that vow had already been broken.

When I said nothing, his voice turned cold:

"Janice, you're not so young anymore, and you're missing an arm on top of that. Without me, once you leave the company, you'd probably"

He didn't finish, but I knew what he meant.

Just then his phone buzzed. A text message.

He glanced at it and said to me:

"Something's come up at the company. I'm going to step out and deal with it."

I looked around the empty room and suddenly remembered the way he used to be, so set on building the company up.

Back then, I'd poured everything I had into helping him.

I remembered one time the company closed a big contract, and I'd said to him, happy:

"This is enough for us to live on for the rest of our lives. From now on we can live the way we want to."

He'd paused, then smiled and said:

"True. You've worked hard through all this. Go home and rest first. I still have a meeting to get to."

That was when I understood that the one who'd really cared about the company all these years had never been me. It was him.

I put down my phone, then picked it up again, and after a long hesitation, I finally dialed that number.

The next morning, when I got up, the apartment was empty.

Lowell hadn't come home all night.

He used to come straight back the moment he finished working late.

He said it was because he didn't want me to worry, didn't want me sitting there afraid, alone.

I sighed.

My phone buzzed, and I picked it up.

A message from Lowell.

"I'm downstairs. Come with me. There's someone I want you to meet."

My hand closed around the phone, then let it go.

Fine. One more time.

I went down and got in the car.

Lowell passed me a breakfast bag.

"Here. Breakfast."

I opened the bag. A cream pastry and a carton of milk.

I laughed to myself, cold. He'd even forgotten I was allergic to milk.

I set the food down.

"Still angry?"

His tone was exactly the same as always.

I said nothing.

His brow creased, so faintly it was almost nothing.

Neither of us spoke the rest of the way.

We got there fast.

A restaurant. The one he used to bring me to all the time.

He walked ahead without a word, and I quickened my steps to keep up behind him.

We reached a private room, and he pushed the door open.

A woman was already seated inside.

I didn't know her.

Lowell went in first, looked at the woman, and started introducing me.

"Janice, this is the woman I'm marrying. Luna. Luna Pruitt."

The whole of me froze. I stared at him, unable to believe it.

His expression didn't change. He turned to the woman and introduced me.

"Luna, this is my little sister. She's also one of the founders of our company."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Sister. I was just a sister?

I'd waited eight years for him, and in the end all I got was the word sister?

My heart was clenched tight, and every beat of it hurt beyond anything.

Lowell looked at me.

He looked at me with a trace of tenderness in his eyes, and reached out to take me by the wrist.

Then he yanked me inside.

I lost my footing and stumbled a step.

He pressed me down into the seat in the corner, then sat himself down beside Luna Pruitt.

My phone buzzed. I picked it up.

"More people are coming later. This dinner matters a lot to the company."

I thought he would at least say one word to explain that name.

In the end, it was still the company.

The pain in my heart was already gone, replaced by numbness, my whole body dull to everything around me.

The rest of them arrived soon after, filling the seats all the way around the table.

Lowell lifted his glass, smiling.

"I asked everyone here today to celebrate my wedding to Luna a little early."

"Thank you all for your support over the years. I hope our business ties only grow deeper from here."

One by one, the people at the table offered their congratulations.

"Mr. Sanchez and Mrs. Pruitt really are a perfect match."

"Congratulations aren't enough. Come on, arms linked, drink together!"

"Do it! Do it!"

They started egging them on.

I came back to myself and looked at Lowell.

There was pleading in my eyes.

Don't do it. Please?

Lowell met my eyes, and in the end he ignored me.

Smiling, he said to them all,

"All right, we'll do it."

The two of them looked at each other, linked arms, and drained their glasses.

When they set the glasses down, their eyes melted into each other, as if the whole world held only the two of them.

Luna rose onto her toes and kissed his lips.

He circled her waist and kissed her back.

The cheering around them got louder.

In the corner, I slowly stood up.

I pushed open the door of the private room and walked out alone.

I walked into the restroom and lifted my head to the mirror.

Somewhere along the way, tears had covered my whole face.

Every vow he'd once made came echoing back, and then broke apart, one line at a time.

I drew a deep breath, splashed water on my face, and headed for the restaurant's exit.

Halfway there, I heard my name drift out of the private room next door.

My steps stopped, and without thinking I edged closer.

The door hadn't been shut all the way.

Through the gap, I saw Lowell talking with a man.

The man looked like a childhood friend of Lowell's, though I didn't know his name.

The man was saying,

"Janice just walked out without a word."

Lowell swirled the glass in his hand.

"Yeah. I know."

"You're a real animal, kissing another woman right in front of your girlfriend."

Lowell gave a small laugh.

"What's there to be afraid of? We've been together this many years. She can't leave me anymore."

"Besides, she's short an arm."

The man threw a laughing punch at Lowell's chest.

"You've still got it. Coming up with a move like this to reel a girl in."

I edged one step closer.

What move?

Lowell set his glass down, his eyes half amused.

"There was no other way. This little one's too old-fashioned. Not like the last few. She wouldn't let me touch her unless I married her."

"So I could only string Janice along."

The last few.

So it had already happened more than once.

My hand clenched.

Lowell went on.

"And I swear, this is the last one. Once I'm done playing with her, I'll marry Janice."

The man rolled his eyes.

"You said that last time too. Who's supposed to believe it?"

Lowell sighed, and something almost sincere came into his voice.

"I've had my fun all these years. Janice has given up so much for me. I can't be a complete piece of garbage."

The man said,

"At least you know that much. She lost that hand saving you."

Lowell was quiet for a moment, then spoke, his voice dropping lower.

"That's exactly why I keep running around. You don't get it. Every time I look at those hands of hers, it turns my stomach a little."

"Especially on rainy days, when the stump of her cut-off arm still twitches, like a lump of..."

A sharp woman's voice cut into the conversation.

"Miss Fox, what are you doing here?"

Both men turned at once, and through the gap in the door they saw me standing there.

Lowell reacted first. He came toward me a few steps and lifted a hand as if to touch my hair.

"Janice, you... how long have you been standing there?"

Luna followed him out and stopped at his side.

I didn't let him finish. I raised my hand and slapped him across the face.

Before Lowell could even react, Luna's hand was already swinging back, landing on my cheek.

"Are you sick?! What gives you the right to hit him?!"

She stepped forward, planting herself in front of Lowell, her face full of confusion and fury.

Watching her shield him with her body, I suddenly found it funny.

In the dramas I used to watch, the heroine always stood in front of the hero like that.

And today the way we were standing was exactly like a scene from one of those shows.

Except it was obvious that the spot I was standing in belonged to the other woman.

I looked down at my empty sleeve, then back at the two "leads" in front of me.

Right.

Time for the other woman to exit.

I took a step back, and the floor lurched under me.

The whole restaurant began to shake violently.

"Run, it's an earthquake!"

People all around were shouting.

The ground was tilting.

A food cart broke loose and came rolling straight at Luna.

"Luna!"

Lowell rushed forward, one arm wrapping around her, the other jamming hard against the cart, forcing it off course by sheer strength.

After a crash of impact, the cart changed direction.

Toward me.

I saw Lowell turn his head and reach a hand out to me.

His face was first frantic, then blank as he saw the cart barreling toward me.

He opened his mouth as if to shout something.

But the cart had already hit.

I couldn't hear anymore.

My mind was blurring, the black spreading over everything in front of me.

In the last thing I saw.

I saw the panicked crowd surging past me, running for their lives.

I saw Lowell glance at me, then grab Luna's hand and turn and run.

I saw...

Just before my consciousness sank fully into the dark, a pair of hands caught me.