The Jealousy Game novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Pavilion

The pavilion sat at the edge of the lake with strings of white lights along the roof and a hundred and forty folding chairs on the grass.

I got out of Dean's truck at ten past six in the blue dress.

It was the one Brett's mother had pinned at the fitting, and it fit me better than anything I had ever owned.

"Whistle," Dean said, one more time, tapping the lanyard around his neck.

"Keep it on you."

"Len. Just say the word."

"I'll say it."

Casper had gone in an hour earlier, in a dark jacket, and taken a stool at the bar by the back fence.

I had not looked at him since we parked.

If I had, I would have walked straight to him, and the whole night would have gone wrong.

The grass was soft under my heels.

People turned as I came down the aisle.

I knew every one of them.

The woman who sold me eggs was there, and my father's old friends from the lodge.

Three girls from Dean's soccer team sat in party dresses.

Brett's relatives from Grand Rapids filled a whole row, and they had only ever spoken to me to ask if I was feeling better.

Their faces went soft and careful.

"Poor thing," someone said, close to my ear.

I kept walking.

At the front of the pavilion there was a small stage with a microphone on a stand.

On a table beside it, a leather folder lay open, with a silver pen laid across the page.

Brett's mother sat in the front row in a black dress, with her hands folded in her lap, and did not look at me.

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