Seeing that one almost made me pause. Almost. I took it off the wall and placed it on top of the boxes. Then I sat down at the kitchen table again and opened my laptop.
The venue coordinator had already replied. Cancellation confirmed. Deposit partially refundable minus administrative fee. That single email saved me almost 6,000 euros.
I leaned back in the chair and looked at the stack of boxes near the door. Laura still thought she was out having a fake work dinner while her fiancé waited at home. What she didn't know was that by the time she came back tonight, there would be no wedding left to come home to. Laura came home a little after midnight.
I heard her outside the door first. The quiet clacking of her heels in the hallway. Then the sound of keys in the lock. I was still sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop open.
Exactly where she had left me earlier that evening. When she walked in, the first thing she noticed was the boxes. Four of them stacked neatly beside the door. Her coats folded on top, the framed wedding invitation sitting right at the front.
She froze for about two seconds, then her face twisted into irritation instead of confusion. She asked what the hell this was supposed to be. I told her calmly that I packed her things so she could take them tonight. That's when the attitude kicked in.
She dropped her purse on the counter and started talking fast, the way she does when she thinks she can bulldoze a conversation. She said I was being dramatic. She asked if this was about her being late. She said normal people don't pack someone's belongings like a psycho just because of a work dinner.
I didn't argue. I turned my laptop toward her and showed her the reservation confirmation email. Her eyes moved across the screen for maybe two seconds before she looked away. Then she rolled her eyes.
Not panic, not guilt, just annoyance. She said Nico was just someone she ran into recently and they decided to catch up. She said the anniversary note was probably something the restaurant added automatically. She said I was overreacting and embarrassing myself.
I listened to the whole speech without interrupting. When she finished, I told her I had already canceled the wedding. That was the first moment she actually looked shocked. Her eyebrows went up and she asked what I meant by canceled.
I explained it slowly. Venue, catering, photographer, website, everything. For the first time that night, she stopped talking. Then she asked the only question she seemed to care about.
"What about the deposits?" I told her some were refundable, some were not, but the bigger point was that there wasn't going to be a wedding anymore. Her expression changed again, this time into pure anger. She said I had no right to make that decision without her.
I reminded her that I was the one paying for most of it while she was out celebrating an anniversary with her ex. The apartment went very quiet after that. Laura looked at the boxes again. Then she laughed in that short, sharp way and said I was acting like a jealous child.