Forgotten Groom in the Back Alley novel · Chapter 13 of 24

Chapter 13: The Receipt

Hazel's POV

At six on Monday morning I was alone in the ballroom with a tape measure and a floor plan.

I always start with the doors, because that is where a wedding goes wrong.

On Saturday it was the alley door.

I had propped it open for the caterers, and I was on my headset when I saw a man in a gray suit run along the bins and go down hard in the fryer grease.

I thought he was a guest who had taken a wrong turn.

Then he said "I'm the groom," and my sheet said Brodie Kohler, and I knew the sheet was wrong before he finished the sentence.

I have run this room for eight years, and I have never once asked a bride who she was marrying.

I asked him, in the corridor, and I handed him napkins, and that was all I did.

It was not enough, and I have thought about it every night since.

"You're up early."

Jude stood in the doorway with two coffees.

His hair was wet from the shower, and he had borrowed one of Dot's late husband's cardigans, which was too short in the sleeves.

I took the coffee and did not look at his wrists.

"Table nine," I said, and pointed at the plan. "Center front, on the dance floor side. That's where she put herself and the eleven board members."

"Close to the stage."

"Close to the screen." I tapped the projector icon. "Linden runs a slideshow of staff milestones every year. Her assistant sends the file Friday. I run the equipment, so I load it, and I have the house audio, and the cameras."

"And you decide what plays."

"I decide nothing," I said. "I'm only the woman with the clicker."

He heard what I'd said, and he waited.

I looked at my clipboard.

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