Chapter 4 - Chloe Finally Called Me
At 2:30, Chloe called from a number I did not recognize.
I answered because I wanted to hear what she had to say without Julian beside her.
“Michael?”
“Yes.”
She was crying.
“I don’t know what happened.”
That was her opening.
Not hello.
Not sorry.
Confusion.
“What do you mean?”
“Julian said you were trying to control the wedding.”
I leaned back.
“How?”
“He said you threatened to cancel because you were angry about the seating.”
“What seating?”
Silence.
Interesting.
“What seating, Chloe?”
“You know.”
“No.”
“Your table.”
I did not know.
Apparently there was more.
“Where was I supposed to sit?”
Chloe exhaled.
“Julian moved you.”
“To where?”
“Table nineteen.”
I laughed.
Cedar Grove had twenty tables.
Table nineteen was beside the service corridor.
Just like being uninvited had not been the first humiliation.
It had been the last step.
“Why?”
“Julian said you were making his friends uncomfortable.”
“I’ve met his friends twice.”
“He said you judge them.”
“How?”
“You ask about work.”
I stared at the wall.
Apparently employment was a sensitive subject among people drinking champagne I paid for.
Chloe continued.
“I told him it was rude.”
“But you accepted it.”
“I’m the bride.”
“I have enough to deal with.”
Of course.
Everyone had enough to deal with.
Except me.
My role was dealing with everyone else’s enough.
“Did you know he removed me from the wedding?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“He said you two needed space.”
“Chloe.”
“You’re marrying him in two days.”
“You have the ability to tell him not to humiliate the person paying for your wedding.”
She started crying harder.
“You’re holding money over us now.”
I closed my eyes.
That phrase had been waiting.
“I have never once asked you to thank me publicly.”
“I never asked for control.”
“I never chose your menu.”
“Your flowers.”
“Your dress.”
“Your venue.”
“I wrote checks.”
“That was all.”
“But yes.”
“If you ban me from the event, I stop funding it.”
“That is not control.”
“That is a boundary.”
She became quiet.
Then she whispered.
“Cedar Grove says they need eighteen thousand by five.”
“Yes.”
“Can you send it?”
“No.”
“Michael, please.”
“Pay it.”
“We can’t.”
“What happened to your trust?”
Silence.
I waited.
Then Chloe said something I did not expect.
“What trust?”
I sat upright.
“The trust Julian said becomes available after the ceremony.”
Chloe stopped crying.
May you like
“Michael.”
“I don’t have a trust fund.”
