Ryan discovered I was gone at noon the next day.
By then, I had just finished scouting locations with the photography team.
I had already removed my SIM card.
I had signed out of iMessage and deleted every chat app I used with him.
My world was unbelievably quiet.
Later, Daniel handed me his phone.
“There’s a call from back home.”
“He says he’s your husband.”
I looked at the familiar number on the screen.
I did not answer.
Daniel did not ask any questions. He simply took the phone back.
“Do you need me to handle it?”
“No.”
I slung my camera over my shoulder.
“He’ll get the papers.”
At the same time, back in the States, Ryan came home to find the living room lights still on.
There was a stack of documents on the coffee table.
The $99.99 simple ring-pendant necklace was resting on top of them.
He frowned and picked them up.
The first page was the divorce agreement.
The second page was the wedding cancellation confirmation.
The third page was the hotel refund receipt.
The fourth page was the bridal salon contract termination form.
Every page bore my signature, Evelyn Bennett.
The handwriting was clear and calm, without the slightest hesitation.
Ryan stood where he was, his face turning paler by the second.
He immediately called me.
The call went straight to voicemail.
He sent an iMessage.
It never showed as delivered.
He froze for a few seconds, then called my friends.
No one answered.
Then he called Daniel.
No one answered that call either.
At last, panic set in.
He rushed into the bedroom.
Half of my clothes were gone from the closet.
My ID documents were gone from the nightstand.
My toothbrush, towels, and skincare products were all gone from the bathroom sink.
Only that $1.99 CVS jar of Vaseline remained.
Along with the bottle of body lotion Lily had left behind.
Ryan stared at those two things, and it felt as if something had suddenly pierced him.
He remembered me standing by the sink last night, quietly looking at them.
At the time, he had thought I was just throwing another tantrum.
He had thought that as long as he came back, as long as he said a few soft words, I would stay like I always had.
But this time, I had said nothing.
I had simply left.
Ryan clutched the divorce agreement, his fingers trembling slightly.
His phone rang.
It was his mother.
The moment he answered, her questions came down on him like a storm.
“Ryan, what is Evelyn trying to do?”
“The wedding planner says the wedding is canceled, and the hotel has refunded the booking. The family group chat is blowing up!”
“Get her to come out and explain this right now!”
Ryan’s throat tightened.
“She left.”
“What do you mean, she left?”
“I don’t know.”
The other end of the line went silent for two seconds.
Then Mrs. Walker Sr.’s voice rose sharply.
“You don’t know? You don’t know where your own wife went?”
“Weren’t you out shopping with Lily yesterday?”
“I told you a long time ago that someone as petty as Evelyn would make a scene sooner or later!”
Ryan squeezed his eyes shut.
In the past, whenever his mother spoke about me like that, he had never refuted her.
He had even thought that I really was too sensitive.
But now, he suddenly remembered.
I had gone all over town to buy his mother the hand-embroidered cashmere wrap she liked.
I remembered that Mrs. Walker Sr. couldn’t stand onions, never drank iced tea, and had a bad lower back, so she could not sit on sofas that were too soft.
And all Mrs. Walker Sr. had ever had to say about me was that I was petty.
Ryan’s voice turned hoarse.
“Mom, stop.”
“Evelyn is the one who doesn’t want me anymore.”
The other end of the line went silent at once.