Chapter 20: Signal

On the morning of the Skyline Awards I stood in front of the hotel's tallest mirror in my slip.

I could not decide on a face.

I tried the calm one.

I tried the one that said I had been looking forward to this.

Behind me, Leighton sat on the edge of the bed in his shirtsleeves.

He held the red silk dress across his knees.

"Say something," he said.

"I'm going to throw up."

"Good. That means you care."

"I thought you were going to say I'd be wonderful."

"You'll be wonderful. You'll also throw up, probably in a hat."

I laughed, and the laugh took some of the knots out of my shoulders.

A knock came at the door, and Emmett's voice said through it, "It's me. I'm here. Please say something."

"Hello, Emmett," I said.

"Thank God."

He came in with two garment bags and a coffee tray, and his glasses were fogged from the cold.

"Good news and bad news. The vans on the south lawn left."

"And the bad?"

"Bigger vans arrived. Eleven stations. Somebody's mother is already on a panel."