19 Wedding Cancellations Later, I Cancelled Him

Nineteen times. That's how many times Elliot had walked out on me while we planned our wedding.

Standing in the bridal shop, he didn't even bother to sound sorry. "Cecilia, it's Vivienne. Another panic attack. She's alone—it's not safe. I have to get to her."

Margaux, my biological mother, shot me that look. "Your sister is suffocating, and you want to make this about a dress? Be the bigger person, Cecilia."

I watched him leave. No hesitation. No looking back. And for once, I didn't beg him to stay. Didn't crumble in the dressing room like I had eighteen times before.

I turned to the mirror. The bride staring back wore thousands of dollars in ivory silk. Her eyes were dead.

"Help me out of this," I told the saleswoman, whose face had gone pale. My voice came out calm. Almost pleasant. "I don't need it anymore. There won't be a wedding."

Cecilia's POV

This was the nineteenth time Elliot had abandoned me.

I stood in front of the floor-length mirror at the bridal boutique, motionless for ten minutes while the seamstress carefully adjusted the hem with pearl pins. This wedding dress had taken a Parisian atelier six months to hand-stitch. Fifteen thousand dollars. When Elliot proposed, he'd called it his "perfect surprise" for me.

But from the moment I'd put it on, he hadn't looked up once.

"Miss Weston, you've lost another half inch around the waist. We'll need to take it in again." The seamstress's voice was barely above a whisper.

I didn't answer. I just watched Elliot in the mirror—legs crossed, brow furrowed, eyes locked on his phone.

"Elliot."

He jerked his head up. "Hmm? Looks great. Let's go with that."

"You didn't even look."

He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, his phone lit up.

Vivienne's ringtone.

He practically launched himself off the couch. The call hadn't even connected and he was already at the door. "Viv? Hey—deep breaths, okay? I'm here. I'm on my way—"

That voice. Tender, urgent, completely focused.

How long had it been since he'd spoken to me that way?

"Elliot." I stepped down from the fitting platform. "Tomorrow's the final deadline. We have to confirm the measurements today—"

He stopped at the glass door and turned back, frown tightening. "Cecilia, Vivienne's apartment lost power. Her claustrophobia and panic disorder both kicked in. She's alone in the dark, crying."

He paused, as if waiting for me to get it.

"It's just a fitting. We can reschedule."

Just a fitting.

Those words just sat there.

Nineteen times.

The previous eighteen, he'd left me stranded in front of florists, venue managers, and jewelers because Vivienne's dog got sick, her apartment sprung a leak, she had a nightmare in the middle of the night. We'd been planning this wedding for a full year, yet he could always find a reason to push me to the back of the line.

Apparently, our wedding could be postponed anytime. As long as Vivienne made a sound.

"Cecilia." My mother Margaux rose from the corner. "Can you not make this about you for once? Vivienne is your SISTER. She's never been strong, and after her mother left, she's had even less to hold onto. What's wrong with Elliot looking after her? You won't help, fine—but don't stand there making that face."

I looked at her.

I was ten when she married me into Vivienne's father's house. From that day on, I lived in the basement, wore Vivienne's hand-me-downs, and every time Vivienne cried, Margaux shoved me forward to take the blame.

I'd thought leaving that house would set me free.

I'd thought meeting Elliot would give me a fresh start.

Seven years ago, outside the NYU library, in the snow. I'd been kicked out of my dorm for unpaid housing fees and sat on my suitcase with nowhere to go.

Elliot had wrapped his coat around me, eyes red. "Cecilia, from now on, I'm here. No one's going to hurt you again. I'll give you a home."

I'd believed him for seven years.

"I'm leaving. Take an Uber home." He assumed my silence meant I'd caved, like I always did. He didn't even glance back before pushing through the glass door.

Margaux picked up her handbag and laughed—short, flat. "Drop the victim act. Think about what YOU did wrong. Men like Elliot don't come twice."

Then she was gone too.

The fitting room went quiet.

The seamstress and the shop assistant exchanged glances, neither daring to speak first. I knew what they were thinking—the poor woman about to marry into money who couldn't even hold her fiancé's attention.

I looked at myself in the mirror.

Perfect makeup. Pale face. A dress I could barely breathe in.

For seven years, to fit into Elliot's plans, I'd given up studying perfumery in Paris. To keep his family happy, I'd turned myself into someone who never pushed back.

Compromise after compromise.

Abandoned, again and again, every time Vivienne had an "episode."

Nineteen times.

I'd read somewhere that every cell in the human body replaces itself every seven years. Maybe seven years was exactly how long it took to run out.

Enough.

"Miss Weston..." The seamstress ventured softly. "Should we continue?"

"No need."

My own voice surprised me. Steady. Almost detached.

"Help me with the zipper." I turned to the assistant and gave her a small smile. "I don't want this dress anymore."

"You mean... not today?"

"No." I stepped out of the gown and pulled on my old trench coat. "I mean I don't want it. The wedding's off."

I set Elliot's black card on the coffee table, picked up my bag, and walked out.

The November wind hit me straight on—exhaust fumes, roasted chestnuts, cold air.

I stopped on the crowded sidewalk and pulled out my phone.

A text from Elliot: Not coming home tonight. Vivienne's still unstable.

No punctuation. No question mark. No you okay?

I swiped it away and scrolled to a contact I hadn't touched in two years—Jean-Pierre, my mentor from the Grasse Institute of Perfumery in Paris.

Two years ago, he'd emailed me about an independent perfumer position. I'd written back: Elliot's at a critical stage with his startup. I can't leave him right now.

I opened the conversation, typed, and hit send before I could think twice.

Professor—is that offer from two years ago still on the table? I'm ready for Paris.

I slipped the phone into my pocket and looked up at the gray sky. Exhaled.

A few seconds later, the screen lit up.

Jean-Pierre:

Cecilia. I look forward to your arrival.