No family members attended my wedding because my sister’s engagement was “more important.” Hours later, her lavish banquet canceled out of loyalty to me. While I was celebrating, my phone exploded with furious voice messages: “Do you have any idea how embarrassed we were?”

Chapter 1: The Empty Aisles

My mother called me sixty-eight times during my wedding, but it was not to offer me any congratulations or well wishes; she simply wanted me to save my younger sister’s engagement party from a logistical disaster.

I got married on a warm Saturday at a rustic estate in the rolling hills of Ojai.

We had chosen that particular venue because Catherine, my beautiful wife, said the nearby mountains made everything feel peaceful and grounded.

However, from the very moment I started walking down the aisle, all I could focus on were the glaringly empty rows of chairs reserved for my own family.

There was my mother’s seat, my father’s seat, and the chair where my sister, Isabelle, was supposed to be sitting.

Most painful of all was the empty place where Thomas, my best friend since our sophomore year of college, was supposed to stand as my best man.