Chapter 13: The Holiday Toast

The pass opened Tuesday at noon, and by seven that night I was standing in a hotel lobby in Spokane in a borrowed black dress.

Trevor's company held its holiday party in the same ballroom every year.

His name was still on the guest list.

Beside it, in the hostess's neat print, it said "+ Callie."

"Name?" the hostess asked.

"Callie Ruddock," I said. "I'm the plus-one."

She smiled and handed me a lanyard.

Nolan stood behind me in the one jacket he owned that wasn't a uniform.

He hated it already.

Danny had stayed at the cabin, because he said two Orricks in a ballroom was a scene and three was a gang.

Inside there were three hundred people at round tables, a stage, and a screen the size of a garage door.

The screen showed Trevor's face under the words "OUR RISING STAR."

Trevor sat at the front table in a navy suit with his phone propped against a water glass.

The red light was on.

He saw me before I reached the third table, and his smile stayed where it was.

His eyes did not.

On the stage, the owner of the company stood at the microphone.

He was a big gray man with a kind voice, and he was in the middle of a toast.

"We all know Trevor has had a hard week," he said. "His fiancee has been unwell, and the whole family is hurting. So let's raise a glass to..."

"Callie!" someone called from a table.

Heads turned.

The owner looked down the aisle and saw me, and his whole face softened.

"Callie, honey. We've been so worried. Come up here."

I walked up the steps in my borrowed shoes.

Trevor was out of his chair by then, but Nolan stepped into the aisle, and Trevor stopped.

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