Chương 4
Emily nodded.
“Where are they?”
“At my apartment.”
“Can I see them?”
“Yes.”
The answer came without hesitation.
Claire looked at Daniel.
He looked exhausted already.
It was strange to see him in formal white tie and waistcoat sitting beneath a row of garment bags while discussing adoption records with a woman who had been serving prime rib thirty minutes earlier.
Claire’s wedding band felt too new on her hand.
Outside the suite, somebody knocked.
Daniel stood.
It was his best man, Aaron, who opened the door only far enough to put his head through.
“I’m sorry. I know this is… whatever this is.”
“What?”
“There are phones.”
Daniel stared at him.
Aaron grimaced.
“People filmed it.”
Claire closed her eyes.
“Of course they did.”
“Someone already posted a clip.”
“How?”
“It’s been like fifteen minutes.”
“That was rhetorical.”
“Right. Sorry.”
Daniel stepped into the hall with him.
Claire could hear their voices, low and tense.
Emily looked mortified.
“I’m going to lose my job.”
“You didn’t do anything.”
“I traded shifts to work this wedding.”
Claire stopped.
Emily’s eyes closed.
There it was.
The hesitation from earlier.
Claire turned fully toward her.
“You what?”
Emily stood again.
“I can explain.”
“Please do.”
“I saw your name on the banquet sheet.”
“You knew who I was.”
“I thought I knew.”
“So this wasn’t an accident.”
“The assignment wasn’t.”
Claire stared at her.
Emily’s breathing had changed.
“I work here most weekends. I wasn’t originally scheduled in this ballroom tonight. Somebody needed my Sunday brunch shift, so I traded.”
“Because of me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see you.”
Claire looked at the watch in her hand.
“You wore this.”
“I always wear it.”
“Under your uniform?”
“Yes.”
“Where someone might see it?”
Emily understood the accusation.
“I wasn’t trying to create that.”
“Were you trying to make me recognize it?”
“No.”
The answer was fast.
Too fast for Claire.
Emily added, “I thought about it.”
Daniel returned in time to hear that.
He stopped in the doorway.
Emily looked miserable.
“I thought maybe if I saw you, I’d know whether to say anything. Then I saw you before the ceremony when I brought water into the dressing room, and you looked…”
“What?”
“Happy.”
Claire said nothing.
“So I decided not to.”
“You decided to serve my wedding instead.”
“I was already clocked in.”
A small, ridiculous laugh escaped Claire.
Emily looked at her.
Claire covered her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
“No. That was fair.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Neither do I.”
Daniel closed the door.
“Apparently there are about nine versions of the video online.”
Claire looked at him.
“Nine?”
“Maybe more.”
“Fantastic.”
“One cuts off before the watch falls.”
“That’ll be useful.”
“Another starts after.”
“Even better.”
Emily put a hand over her face.
Daniel noticed.
“Hey. This isn’t your fault.”
Emily lowered her hand.
“It’s not exactly not my fault that I’m here.”
“No,” Claire said. “But being here isn’t why Margaret grabbed you.”
Emily looked at her.
Claire was not ready to call Daniel’s mother Mom.
She had never been ready, despite Margaret suggesting it twice.
Tonight guaranteed she never would be.
Daniel sat beside Claire.
“My mother wants to come in.”
“No.”
“She says she deserves to hear—”
“No.”
“Okay.”
The speed of his agreement surprised Claire.
He reached into his jacket and silenced his phone.
“I told Aaron to have the DJ put music back on and start dinner service again.”
Claire looked at him.
“People are eating?”
“They’re trying.”
“Our first dance was supposed to happen.”
“I know.”
“Your grandmother flew from Arizona.”
“I know.”
“My father is probably having a stroke.”
“I hope not.”
Claire looked at him.
Daniel gave a tired shrug.
“Wrong phrase.”
Despite herself, she smiled.
It lasted less than a second.
Then Emily’s phone vibrated.
She checked the screen.
“My manager.”
Luis had texted asking her to go to the employee health office downstairs so the hotel could document the injury.
Emily stood.
“I should do that.”
Claire also stood.
“Can we talk afterward?”
Emily hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Not here.”
“Probably better.”
Claire looked down at her dress.
“I may need ten minutes to stop looking like this.”
Emily’s expression softened.
“You look beautiful.”
Claire almost cried then.
Not because it was a remarkable compliment.
Because Emily said it like someone who had been holding the thought for hours.
Claire turned away and pretended to fix an earring.
Daniel walked Emily to the service elevator.
On the way, they passed Margaret.
She stood alone near a floral arrangement, no longer surrounded by relatives. Her mouth tightened when she saw Emily.
Daniel positioned himself subtly between them.
Margaret noticed.
“Daniel.”
“Not now.”
“I need five minutes.”
“No.”
“You have two hundred people in that room.”
“I know.”
“You cannot disappear from your own reception.”
“I’m walking Emily to an elevator.”
Margaret looked at Emily.
Emily’s shoulders stiffened.
Margaret said, “I should not have pulled the chain.”
Daniel stopped.
Emily stopped because he did.
Margaret’s face showed visible effort.
“But given the circumstances—”
Daniel’s eyes closed.
“Mom.”
“What?”
“You almost made it.”
Margaret looked offended.
Emily said quietly, “I don’t need an apology right now.”
“That is what I was offering.”
“No,” Daniel said. “It wasn’t.”
Emily pressed the elevator button.
Margaret’s face hardened.
“You have no idea what happened before you arrived.”
Daniel looked at her bracelet.
“Neither did you.”
The elevator opened.
Emily stepped inside.
Daniel followed her to the employee level.
For most of the ride, neither spoke.
Emily finally said, “You should go back to your wife.”
“I will.”
“She’s going to hate me tomorrow.”
Daniel glanced at her.
“Claire?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“Because tonight she found out her mother lied to her and a stranger came to her wedding carrying proof.”
“She hugged you.”
“That was before she knew I came on purpose.”
Daniel considered that.
“Claire does things before she knows what they mean sometimes.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
May you like
“A little.”
Emily gave a faint smile.
