Chapter 13: The Pad

The car was quiet all the way to the Plaza.

Lawson sat across from me in his tuxedo with a printed speech in his hand.

Marissa sat beside him in a pale pink gown that fell in soft folds over the silicone pad.

I wore midnight blue, cut loose from the shoulders, with no ring on my left hand.

"You'll walk in beside me and smile," Lawson said.

"The board has been asking why my wife hasn't been seen in a month."

"After the announcement, you'll say you're tired, and Jonas will take you home."

"I understand," I said.

Marissa reached over and straightened my necklace.

"You look lovely, dear," she said. "A little pale. It suits the story."

I thanked her, thinking of how little time had passed since Wednesday night.

Jonas was in the front seat, driving.

He did not turn around.

On the sidewalk outside the hotel, the flashbulbs went off all at once.

Lawson put his hand at the small of my back and steered me up the red carpet.

"Mr. Draper! Mrs. Draper!" a photographer shouted. "Over here!"

I looked at the camera and smiled the smile I had learned in three years.

At the end of the press line, a woman with short gray hair stood behind a rope with a camera on her shoulder.

Her badge read *Press*, and her face showed nothing.

Her eyes met mine, and then I was past her.

I kept walking.

The ballroom held two hundred round tables under three crystal chandeliers.

Waiters moved through the crowd with trays of champagne.

A string quartet played near the stage.

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