An Anonymous Confession Game Ruined My Wedding novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Forgiveness on a Stage

"I have twenty-six thousand dollars in an account that came back at three in the morning," I said.

"No."

"Ingrid, it covers most of it."

"No stories, Lagergren." She was frying bacon with her back to me, and her braid swung when she turned. "Not the one where the groom rides in and pays off the lady's mortgage. I read that one. The lady always ends up in a kitchen saying thank you."

"I wasn't going to ask for thank you."

"You were going to ask me to be easy about it."

I closed my mouth.

"I'll pay it myself," she said. "Or I'll lose it myself. Either way, it'll be mine."

The festival started at noon.

Every year the whole town stood on the harbor wall for the Blessing of the Boats, and a pastor read a prayer over the fleet while the captains hung wreaths on their bows.

Ingrid had refused to go until Hattie called her a coward in front of the crew.

We stood at the back, near the fish stand, four of us in a row: Ingrid, Hattie, the old man with the mustache, and me.

The pastor had barely lifted his hands when a microphone squealed on the little stage.

"Excuse me," a woman said. "I'm so sorry to interrupt a holy day."

It was Brooke.

She stood on the stage in a pale blue dress with her arm in a brace and a candle in a paper cup.

Her mother stood just below it, next to a man with a television camera on his shoulder.

The pastor lowered his hands and looked helplessly around.

"I came a long way to say something," Brooke said. "I know I don't deserve to be heard.

"I did something wrong a long time ago. I paid for it. I lost the man I love."

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