She Begged for Me Back After I Left novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Memorial Toast

The old shipping hall held two hundred and ten people in black tie, and every one of them had read the morning papers.

I stood beside the front table in my own black suit, with no radio on my belt.

Camille sat at my left in a dark green dress.

Alana sat at her other side, with her phone face down on the cloth and a headset around her neck.

She was meant to be in the sound booth by nine.

She had not left the table yet.

"Under the cloth," Camille said quietly. "Give me your hand."

I looked down at her.

She had her palm turned up on her knee, waiting.

"You're asking," I said.

"I'm asking."

I put my hand in hers.

Her fingers locked through mine, cold and tight.

The panel read C 8.1.

D 6.0.

On the little stage, a man in a tuxedo tapped the microphone.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "to open the memorial dinner, a few words from the late founder's ward and our dear friend, Mr. Dalton Reeve."

Applause rolled through the hall, uncertain.

Dalton climbed the three steps to the podium slowly, with one hand on the rail.

He wore a white tie and an expression of gentle pain.

The hall quieted for him.

Some of them still wanted to believe it, I could see.

Alana slid her chair back and slipped away between the tables toward the booth, with her phone in her fist.

"Thank you," Dalton said. "Thank you all for coming."

His voice carried to the back wall, warm and sad.

"I stand here tonight after a hard week," he said. "A man I thought was my brother has said cruel things about this family. I forgive him. I would ask the press to forgive me for being unwell."

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