My Wife Sent Me to a Psych Ward, So I Gave Her a Big Surprise novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Gala

The Grand Hall had forty round tables, a banner over the stage, and a band tuning up in the corner.

OSTROW FREIGHT DRIVER AWARDS, the banner said, and under it, in smaller letters, A NIGHT TO HONOR OUR FAMILY.

I stood in the double doors with my mother on one arm and Maura beside her.

Nobody had seen us yet.

Brooks stood at the podium in a navy tuxedo with a microphone in his hand.

"Every one of you has given this company ten, twenty, thirty years of your lives," he said. "Tonight I want to thank you on behalf of Damon, who can't be with us. He's been through a great deal, and I know you all join me in wishing him rest."

Polite clapping went around the room.

It was thin.

At table six, a woman in a green dress said loudly, "Rest where?"

Brooks smiled at her. "Let's keep it positive."

I walked in.

My mother kept pace with me, in her green wool coat, with her handbag held in front of her.

The nearest table saw us first.

The gray-mustached driver put down his fork.

Then the dispatcher stood up at table two, sixty years old in a black dress, and she put one hand flat on the white cloth.

The man beside her stood.

Then the table.

It went across the room table by table, with chairs scraping.

Soon three hundred people were on their feet and facing the doors.

Nobody clapped.

They only stood.

Brooks lowered the microphone, and his face went through three expressions and settled on none of them.

"Damon," he said into the speakers. "This is unexpected. You're on leave."

"I was," I said. "I'm back."

"I'm not sure this is the place."

"It's exactly the place."

I walked down the center aisle with my mother's hand in my elbow and Maura a step behind.

Every driver I passed said my name very quietly.

"Mr. Ostrow."

"Welcome back."

"We kept your chair."

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