The 23rd Deletion Bride novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Twenty-Three Emails

Cullen Stroud pulled out the chair on my other side and sat down.

He did it calmly, and that was what made the room breathe again.

Dalton stood there with his hand still on my chair, and the two men in gray suits sat down on either side of the empty space he'd left.

"Mr. Stroud," Dalton said. His voice had gone smooth. "I didn't realize you knew my wife."

"I've been trying to for some time," Cullen said.

He didn't explain.

Dalton looked at me, and I could see him decide to laugh it off.

"It's been a long week for her," he told the table. "She'll feel better after dinner."

"I feel fine," I said.

I picked up the printed program from beside my plate.

It was thick, cream-colored, and gold-edged, and I turned it to the back page where the host was listed.

"Would somebody at this table read the last line on page two?" I said. "Out loud, please."

Nobody moved.

The woman across from me in the sequined shawl had picked hers up already.

She had her glasses on, and her mouth had fallen open.

"Hostess," she read slowly. "Delaney Frost. Mrs. Dalton Amory."

Table One went silent.

At Table Two, someone repeated it.

Then Table Three flipped open their programs, and rustling paper and whispers moved back through the ballroom.

Dalton laughed.

It came out too loud.

"That's a printing error. Obviously. Somebody in design..."

"Four hundred copies," I said. "Your office approved the proof three weeks ago."

His smile stayed where it was, but his eyes went to the back of the room.

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