"Paul, I'm sorry. I can't marry you". Paul sadly looks at Nikki. She explains he has been her dearest friend for 30 years. He has always been there for her, when she needed help or a shoulder to cry. He loves her unconditionally. Those are wonderful reasons to marry somebody, but it's not enough. He deserves to marry a woman who will love him with her heart and soul... and she just can't do that.
Paul tells Nikki that being her husband is what he wants more than anything, but if she has doubts, he agrees to postpone the wedding. He thinks that sitting down and talking honestly would help to erase those doubts, but Nikki disagrees. She takes her ring off. Paul wants her to keep it. She finally puts the ring on the altar. She tells Paul she's leaving town for a while and she gives him a note to read after she's gone. Tears run down Paul's face. "Listen, if you need anything, I want you to call me, okay?" Paul says. "I still love you. I think somewhere in there, you still love me. So you knows? Maybe some time away, you'll come back, and..." Paul sights. "It's not gonna happen", he adds. "Not as long as there is someone looming over us." Paul briefly holds Nikki's hand in his, and then, crying, he looks at her walking away.
Paul thanks Heather for coming. He tells her that the wedding's off and that Nikki's gone. Heather is sorry. Paul says that's not why he called her over here. They need to talk. It's about Adam.
While Heather is confronting Adam about Nikki's note, Paul is face to face with Victor at the church. "Nikki left town because she can't get over you", Paul says. "You two have this pull. You can't get each other out of your systems. Never mind you've spent the last 25 years trying to make it work and you can't. You both keep coming back for more." Victor wonders where Nikki has gone. Paul has no idea. "I just lost the woman I truly love", he says. "So if you want to go track her down, be my guest". Paul walks away.