“What did Noah tell you?” “Just grandfather-and-grandson things.” “This is hardly the time for games, Walter.

We have guests.

The press is here.

Your business partner is already seated.

You cannot leave me standing at that altar alone.” “Five minutes,” I said again, and something in my voice, some authority I hadn’t used in a long time, made even the bridesmaids stop pretending they weren’t listening.

She reached for my arm, and Noah whimpered, and I told her to go back to the ballroom, and I said it in a way that left no room, and she went — slowly, watching me the whole way.

I took Noah into the little room where I’d dressed that morning, and I locked the door, and with hands that would not stay steady I opened my laptop and pushed the drive into the port.