Chapter 11: Britta's Blessing

I walked up the three stairs to the stage with my cardigan over my arm and my own microphone in my hand.

The camera light was red and steady.

Shayla held out a second mic with a pink ribbon on it, and a smile that said it was my last chance.

"I brought my own," I said.

I turned to the room.

Two hundred and forty classmates, three sponsors, one camera, and Dolly in the second row, holding a plastic bus on her lap.

"Thank you all for coming," I said. "I was asked to say a few words of blessing. I'd like to give it properly."

Shayla's smile fixed in place.

"I wish Brock Dettmer and Shayla Pfeiffer every happiness they deserve," I said. "I'll be specific about what that is."

【Pete: Here it comes.】

【Sue: I'd like it noted that I am on the edge of my seat.】

"Three years ago I found them together in the Dettmer guest cabin, the night before my wedding rehearsal."

A small sound rolled through the hall.

"You've heard that. Shayla admitted it at brunch." I looked at her. "On camera. With bacon."

She opened her mouth.

I kept going.

"What you haven't heard is the rest of that night."

"I sat at the Greyhound station for forty minutes in my dress. Somebody filmed it. I used to think it was a stranger."

I held up my phone.

"DJ, can I borrow you for a second?"

At the sound booth, the DJ went pale.

"You're in the vendors' chat with Shayla's cousin," I said. "He typed something last night. Would you read it?"

"I, um."

"Out loud. It's short."

The DJ looked at the cousin, who was staring at his shoes.

He took his phone out of his pocket and held it away from his face.

"'Ngl the bus video is messed up,'" he read. "'Shayla just told me where she'd be and I went lol.'"

【Sue: She planned it. She told him where Britta would be and she sent him. This is premeditation by hot take.】

In the front row, the three sponsors had stopped smiling.