Downgrade My Ride? I'll Upgrade My Groom! novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Luncheon

I stood in the lobby of the Kenward Grand with my box on my hip and stared at Bailey's login on my phone.

B. COPLEY.

Seven in the morning to one in the afternoon.

Damage to the front bumper.

Across the lobby, a brass easel stood outside the second-floor stairs.

KENWARD HOTELS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL LUNCHEON. TODAY. NOON. GRAND BALLROOM.

I had designed that easel.

I had designed the invitations.

I called Clay.

"Where are you?"

"In my car outside," he said. "Being supportive from a respectful distance."

"Do you own a tie?"

There was a pause.

"I own forty ties, Liv."

"Bring one up. We're going to lunch."

The ballroom looked exactly the way it had on Saturday, minus my peonies.

Round tables, white cloths, two hundred donors in summer silk, a string trio, and a big screen showing children in hospital gowns holding up drawings.

Every table had a card with my calligraphy on it.

The hostess at the door saw me and went pale.

"Mrs. Eastman," Clay told her, before she could look for my name. "Plus one. The Eastman Foundation table."

There was an Eastman Foundation table.

There was always an Eastman Foundation table.

It was right at the front, under the stage.

His grandmother had bought it in January and forgotten about it.

We sat.

People turned in their chairs to look at us.

The woman beside me was the wife of a bank president I'd met at least six times.

She leaned over and patted my hand.

"I saw the video, dear. You poor thing. Are you resting?"

"I'm resting right now," I said.

At half past twelve, Bailey came up on the stage in a white dress.

Not ivory. White. Bridal white.

She had a card in her hand and a microphone, and she smiled at the room.

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