Page 61 of The Breaking Point

I sit, the coffee Kate must’ve brewed already steaming on the table. I take a sip, scalding, welcome.

“So,” she says finally, voice even, “I have my bridal shower today. Just a bunch of kids and our mothers, what could possibly go wrong?”

She smiles faintly, like it’s a joke, but she’s watching me. Casual, but not.

I should tell her about my father. About what he said. Whatshedid. But how can I? Not now. Not when she’s drowning in wedding prep and I’m already cracking. Taking another sip ofmy coffee, barely tasting it, I say: “Bummer. I’m gonna head to work, okay? Finish the project before the honeymoon.”

Kate doesn’t look up from rinsing a plate. “Do you have to? Today?”

I don’t answer. Just push back my chair and head upstairs.

She doesn’t follow. Doesn’t press. She never does. She has no idea the ‘extra’ projects I’ve been picking up are what’s paying for the whole damn shindig tomorrow. The tent, the flowers, the food my mom insisted on upgrading. The extra chairs, the backup generator, the kid-friendly desserts. All of it. I didn’t tell her. I don’t want to.

It’s not her job to worry about money. Or my past.

Especially not my father.

At work, I get the usual claps on the back, smirks, a chorus of“dead man walking”jokes as I pass by. They mean well. I guess. But they don’t get it. None of them do.

To them, I’m the guy who knocked up his high school girlfriend and stuck around because hehadto. Because it was the “right” thing to do. Because I wastrapped.

They don’t see what I see. They don’t see Kate the way I do. I’m marrying her because I want to. Because I love her. Because from the moment I realized she was it for me, I haven’t wanted anything else.

But still... I know what people think. And on bad days, I think Kate might believe it too. That I’m here out of obligation. Guilt. Momentum.

Sometimes I tell myself I’ll change that. I’ll prove it. I’ll show her what she means to me, remind her that none of this is a burden, it’s the life Ichose. But those thoughts are like sparks in wet wood. They catch for a second and then the numbness spreads again, dull and heavy.

I walk through the day like a ghost. Fogged over. Nothing cuts through.

Tomorrow is our wedding. The day I’ve been planning since the moment I proposed, when she was pregnant with Alex and scared and so beautiful I could barely breathe.

And here I am, acting like an asshole.

Tomorrow…Tomorrow I’ll be different.

I promise.

Chapter 23

AIDEN

The phone ringing snaps me out of the fog. I blink at the clock. 5:02 PM. The project was done a while ago, but I just sat here, staring at my phone screen, doing nothing.

A text lights up the lock screen:

Dad:Can’t make it. Jeremy is sick...

I don’t open it. I don’t need to. Just seeing the words is enough. The phone is still ringing. I answer.

“Hello?”

“Hey man, where the fuck are you?” Eli’s voice, already loud.

“Just finishing up at the office,” I lie.

“Office? Bro, your life ends tomorrow. Listen, I’m texting you an address, get here.”

He hangs up before I can answer. A second later, the text comes in. It’s a bar. Drinking sounds good right now. Before I leave, I block my father’s number and delete the message. I get it. Hisrealkids come first.

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