"Miss Fox, we've changed the wedding setup exactly the way you asked. Was there anything else you'd like?"
"No, that's all. Thank you."
I hung up and walked into the hotel beside me.
The third day was my birthday.
It was the day we'd originally planned to get married.
He'd said he would surprise me at the wedding. Two happy occasions at once.
Now it seemed that was off the table.
He'd already shortchanged me. I wasn't going to shortchange myself too.
I paid extra for the hotel staff to decorate my room, and got ready to celebrate my birthday alone.
At noon, I went home to grab a few things.
The moment I opened the door, I froze where I stood.
The living room was filled with white baby's breath.
Candles had been arranged on the floor in the shape of a heart.
My dead heart suddenly slammed hard against my ribs.
I couldn't stop myself. I lifted my feet and moved closer, one step at a time.
There was a cake on the dining table.
The cake read:
"Happy Birthday, Dawn."
The pounding in my chest stilled all at once, and went back to dead silence.
I turned my head toward the master bedroom.
Dawn was sitting on the bed in my silk nightgown, and Oswald was bent over her, fastening a necklace around her neck.
It was the one I'd saved three months of my salary for, and never let myself buy.
Hearing my footsteps, they looked up at the same time.
Oswald flinched, as if something had just come back to him, his expression a little stiff.
"Millie, why are you home? It's Dawn's birthday today, so I'm throwing her a little celebration, you—"
"Today is my birthday too."
I cut him off.
The air went silent in an instant.
Dawn's eyes reddened immediately. She stood up, looking flustered all over.
"I'm so sorry, Millie. I had no idea today was your birthday. Here, take the cake, I won't have any—"
"No need."
I looked at Oswald.
"You remember her birthday but not mine. Is that it?"
His face darkened.
"Millie, are you serious? She hasn't celebrated her birthday in three years. What's wrong with me throwing her one?"
"You celebrate your birthday every year. Would it kill you to skip it for one year? I already told you, just seven days. Can you stop picking at this one thing day after day?"
"Just seven days?"
I looked around at the baby's breath filling the room.
"Oswald, three months ago I told you I wanted baby's breath for my birthday."
"What did you say back then? You said it was a waste of money. Pointless."
He choked on that, then turned even more irritated.
"Wasn't this a special situation? When it's our wedding, I'll fill a whole room with it for you, all right? Don't throw a tantrum here and make Dawn laugh at us."
Dawn tugged at his arm.
"Oswald, maybe I should just go. I don't want to come between you two—"
Oswald pressed her back down.
"Go where? You're not the one who should leave."
"Millie, if you can't stand the sight of it, then get out. Don't stand here ruining the mood."
I looked at him, and then I smiled.
"Fine."
I turned and walked out of the home I'd lived in for three years.
The moment the door closed, I heard Dawn crying inside, and Oswald soothing her.
The last four days.
Oswald took Dawn to the beach where we'd planned to shoot our wedding photos, and they did an entire couple's set.
Then he took Dawn up to a mountaintop overlook and hung a love lock there.
That was the place I'd asked him to go for a whole year, and he'd always refused, saying his knees hurt.
Dawn posted on her feed every day, and Oswald was in every photo.
Underneath the captions, she always added a line:
"Thank you, Millie, for letting us be together."
Nina was so furious she wanted to go after them and have it out, but I stopped her.
There was no point anymore.
On the night of the seventh day, I went home to pack my things.
When I opened the door, Oswald and Dawn were sitting on the couch, looking through the photos they'd taken over the past seven days.
