Page 4 of The Boss Problem

Henry was going to be one of our witnesses for the wedding, and he’d be coming over directly from our apartment.

There was a pause on the other end. Then his voice, strained, came through. “Chloe, I… had a little accident.”

My heart sank. “What happened?”

“I was leaning too far forward, trying to get a glass from the table when I fell,” he said with a half-hearted laugh. “It’s nothing serious, just banged up my shoulder a bit.”

I closed my eyes, letting the words sink in. Henry had been in a wheelchair since the accident, and the thought of him being hurt made my stomach twist. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he said quickly, but I could hear the pain in his voice. “I don’t want to mess up your day. You’ve got the wedding and everything.”

I glanced at the time. The courthouse ceremony was a couple of hours away. I was so close to being married. But I couldn’t stop picturing Henry, hurt and alone.

“No,” I said, already knowing what I had to do. “I’m coming back.”

“Chloe, don’t be ridiculous. I’ll be fine.”

“Nonsense,” I said. “Nothing is more important to me than making sure you’re okay.”

He let out a long sigh, and I could hear the guilt in his voice. “I didn’t mean to pull you away from your big day.”

“You’re not pulling me away,” I corrected. “I’m pulling myself away. We’ll just reschedule. It’s a courthouse, not Buckingham Palace.”

There was a pause on the other end.

Then, softer this time, he said, “Thanks, Chloe.”

“Always,” I replied.

I hung up. The dress, the ceremony—it could all wait. Henry couldn’t. Besides, I didn’t want to go through the ceremony without Henry.

When I looked up, Sean was still looking back at me. He hadn’t touched the coffee. “Is everything okay?”

I turned my back to him, determined to ignore him, even as I felt hopelessly vulnerable. I needed to make another call.

Bruce was not going to like this.

A minute later, when I got Bruce on the line and explained that I needed to reschedule—without mentioning Henry—Bruce snapped, “What do you mean, you need to reschedule? We’re getting married, for heaven’s sake!”

“I’m sorry,” I fumbled, wishing I had a better alternative.

“It’s because of Henry, isn’t it?” Bruce fumed over the phone. “What reason did he have this time? Wait. You know what? I don’t even want to know,” he huffed out. I could hear him pacing his room. “Chloe, you’ve got to realize it’s unhealthy, the way you and Henry are codependent.”

“It isn’t.”

There was a strange silence over the phone.

“You don’t get it, do you?” He sounded bitter. “If I asked you to choose between me and Henry, how would you answer, Chloe?”

I inhaled sharply. “You can’t ask me that,” I said immediately.

“It’s time I did, and I have my answer. I’m tired of coming second in your life, Chloe, and I can’t spend our married life being second to Henry. I can’t marry you, Chloe. I won’t marry a woman who is destined to have a miserable shell of a life.”

His words hit me like a brick to my stomach.

“Bruce—” I began, my voice shaking, but he hung up.

I looked down at the layers of white lace and satin on me and felt the ground collapse beneath me.