Page 51 of The Runaway Bride's Vow

Brooke

I’m sorry. I can’t do this. Not like this.

He read the message again and again. He didn’t understand. What did she mean by not like this?

This was bridal jitters like he’d had right before he’d walked down the aisle. They just needed to see each other and talk through the nerves. Yes, that was it. They’d talk, and then the wedding would proceed as planned.

Logan

Where are you? I’ll come to you.

There was a pause. It went on and on. He started to wonder if she would respond.

Brooke

You can’t.

Logan

Why not?

Brooke

I left.

Logan

Come back. We can talk.

Brooke

I’m sorry. I can’t go through with the wedding.

He reread her words. A painful crack formed in his heart. Each time he read the words, the crack grew and the ache worsened.

His finger hovered motionless over his phone. She left. He knew her past. He knew she had previously been a runaway bride; he just never thought she would do that again—do that to him. Didn’t she know how much he loved her?

It was over. It was all over.

He shoved the phone back into his pocket as he stormed toward the door. He had to get out of there. He had to go home and get out of these clothes. He didn’t know what he would do after that. It appeared it didn’t matter. Kaylie was with his mother, who was to drop her off with Margie for the next two weeks.

“Hey! Wait,” the building manager called out to him. “What about my key? Is she going to drop it off?”

Logan paused in the doorway. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”

The man continued to call out questions, but Logan ignored them as he rushed down the steps, anxious to get outside. He’d no sooner stepped out onto the sidewalk when his phone rang yet again.

He wanted to ignore it. He didn’t want to speak to anyone. Right now, his heart felt as though it had shattered into a million pieces. But there was this part of him that was hoping it was Brooke, and she was calling to apologize—she’d had a freak-out moment but that she still loved him.

He pulled his phone from his pocket to find it was Clara. He realized in that moment there was still a chapel full of people waiting for them.

He pressed the phone to his ear. “Clara, tell everyone to go home.”

“Did you find her?”

“No.” He hesitated. He didn’t want to admit that Brooke had run off, but Clara would find out sooner or later since she was Brooke’s boss. “She left.”

“Left? As in left San Francisco?”

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