The 23rd Deletion Bride novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Program

Delaney is in her house in her robe, Linnea packs one bag, and the gala program names Delaney as Mrs. Dalton Amory.

I went home to pack.

Our townhouse was ten minutes from the office, and I had my key out before I saw the lights on in the kitchen.

Delaney was standing at my stove with my kettle in her hand.

She had my good mug on the counter, the blue one my mother made.

"Mrs. Amory!" she said, and her whole face lit up. "I didn't expect you home. Dalton asked me to drop off his tux for tomorrow. Tea?"

"How did you get in?"

"He gave me a key in the spring, for emergencies. Isn't it a relief, having someone to handle the little things?"

She said it so warmly that for a second I felt rude.

Then I looked at her feet.

She was wearing my slippers.

"Those are mine," I said.

"Oh!" She laughed and kicked them off one at a time. "The tile's so cold. I'm sorry, I'll wash them."

I didn't answer.

I walked upstairs and took the gray suitcase out of the closet.

Behind me I heard the kettle click off, and then her quiet steps on the stairs.

She stopped in the bedroom doorway and watched me fold.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Yes."

"For long?"

"I don't know."

She nodded slowly and made a small sorry face.

"Dalton is under so much pressure this week. I hope you'll be kind to him."

I put two pairs of jeans in the case.

I put in my prenatal vitamins from the nightstand drawer, and my mother's gold chain, and the green gown from the garment bag at the back of the closet.

That gown had been my mother's.

She had worn it to the first gala my father ever hosted, and my father had kept it zipped in plastic for thirty years until I turned twenty-one.

Delaney's eyes moved to it.

"That's lovely. Are you going to wear it tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"But you're not on..." She stopped herself and smiled. "Oh, you are. I fixed it. Of course you are."

I took out my phone and opened my email, because I wanted to see the registration confirmations with my own eyes.

The screen turned white.

Your password has been reset by an administrator. Contact your IT department.

I tried again.

The same message came up.

I looked at Delaney.

She was looking at the closet, politely, and her face did not change.

"It does that sometimes," she said. "The server updates overnight. I'll get it sorted by morning."

"You said you'd tidy it up."

"And I did! Sometimes tidying means a reset."

She spread her hands and smiled, and I couldn't find the hole in it.

I zipped the case.

Downstairs the front door opened, and Dalton's voice came up the stairwell.

"Delaney? Is she here?"

"Upstairs, Mr. Amory!"

He came up two steps at a time and stopped when he saw the suitcase.

He was breathing hard, and he didn't try to hide his irritation.

"What is this?"

"I'm going to stay with Hattie."

"Over a guest list." He pushed his hair back. "Linnea, I'm trying to run a company. I don't have the energy for a tantrum."

"I'm not having one."

"Then put the bag down."

I didn't.

"Don't come tomorrow," he said, lower. "I mean it. Delaney is hosting, the investors are watching, and I don't want a fight in front of them. Stay home and rest. We'll talk Sunday."

Stay home.

I hadn't been at an Amory Group event since March, and he had always called it scheduling.

"I'll see you at the gala," I said.

His jaw tightened.

"If you embarrass me in front of the Anchor Fund..."

"Then what?"

He didn't have an ending to that.

I carried the suitcase past him and past Delaney, who stepped aside with a murmured, "Take care of yourself."

I set the front door on its latch softly, the way I'd done with his office.

Hattie lived in a loft above a bakery on Wharf Street, and the whole stairwell smelled of butter.

She opened the door in her headset, with a tablet under her arm and a pencil in her hair.

She took one look at me and opened her arms.

I cried for exactly as long as it took her to put the kettle on.

Then I washed my face and sat at her worktable, and she turned the tablet toward me.

"I wanted you to see the proof for tomorrow's program before it prints," she said. "Dalton's office signed off on it three weeks ago. The final copies are already boxed."

I read the cover.

It said Amory Group Annual Gala, and below that came the honored guests, the board and the sponsors.

And under Hostess, in gold type, with a small photograph beside it, was Delaney Frost's smiling face.

The line beside her photograph read: Mrs. Dalton Amory.

"It isn't a typo," Hattie said quietly. "I called the printer. There are four hundred copies in the boxes, and every one of them says it."

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend