“You were never going to be her stepmother.

You were going to be a person who tolerated her until you had enough standing to stop.”

“That is an appalling thing to say to me.”

“It is,” I agreed.

“It’s also the only explanation that fits what you told her in that room.”

Pamela pulled her engagement ring off and put it down on a metal shelf next to a stack of folded tablecloths, which is where it stayed for four days until the venue manager found it and called me.