Chapter 4: Welcome Dinner

The welcome dinner was set in a restaurant the show had rented for the night, with candles on every table and three cameras on rolling stands.

There were four of us and one long table.

Ashton and Vera sat on one side.

Keith and I sat across from them, and the host of the show took the end seat and called us the bravest couples in Los Angeles.

"Couples?" Vera said, and laughed. "Mara's practically family."

She put her hand over Ashton's on the tablecloth.

Ashton turned his palm up and laced his fingers through hers.

He didn't look at me when he did it.

In my right ear, the flat producer voice said, "Mara, reach for his sleeve."

I reached for his sleeve.

"Ashton," I said, in the small voice I'd practiced in the bathroom mirror. "I never got to say how proud I am of the new season."

He moved his arm away.

"Thanks," he said, and then to Vera, "Try this, you'll love it."

He cut a bite of his steak and held the fork out to her.

Vera opened her mouth and took it and smiled at him with her eyes closed.

I felt the nearest camera turn toward me.

"Say something about your anniversary," the voice said in my ear.

I kept my own fork steady.

"We were married five years," I said, and my voice cracked in exactly the right place. "I still keep the card you wrote me."

Ashton looked at me at last.

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