The Spare They Came Begging For novel · Chapter 21 of 32

Chapter 21: Gray Silk

The harbor hotel's ballroom had forty tables, a stage, and two screens the size of garage doors.

Everything was gold and cream.

There were white orchids on every table and a string quartet playing Christmas songs slowly enough to sound sad.

I came in at seven in the gray silk dress, with my hair down for the first time in years.

Moira had done it in her bathroom with a curling iron and a lot of swearing.

"Hold still. I'm a nurse, not a hairdresser."

"You're burning my ear."

"Your ear will heal."

Now she was walking in behind me in a green dress and her good earrings, with Conor beside her in a black suit that actually fit.

He'd rented it.

He'd sent me a photo from the fitting room at four with no message, just his face, looking stunned.

My father had bought their tickets under his own name.

Table thirty-eight. At the back, near the kitchen doors.

"Best seat in the house," Moira said. "Closest to the bar."

Conor squeezed my hand once, low, where nobody could see.

Then they went to the back.

I walked to the front alone.

People turned to look.

I watched it happen table by table. Heads coming up. Conversations stopping.

A woman in diamonds put a hand on her husband's arm.

"That's the sister. That's the nurse."

The head table was on a riser in front of the stage, under the screens.

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