Chapter 14 — Laura Arrives

Then the heavy double doors opened at the back of the venue, and I knew Laura had arrived before I even turned to look, because I felt the whole room change.

The warm, easy hum of a wedding shifted; conversations dropped away; heads turned.

She walked in wearing a glittering designer gown that would have been more at home at an elite gala than at her daughter’s afternoon wedding, diamonds sparkling at her throat in the sunlight.

And beside her walked Gregory, polished and confident and expensive, exactly as I remembered him from fifteen years before, with several members of his extended family following close behind, the audience Laura had brought for her performance.