He Mistook Me for My Roommate, So I Called a Stranger Husband novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Gala

The Bingham gala was in a hotel ballroom with three chandeliers and a string quartet nobody was listening to.

I wore a midnight-blue dress I'd bought myself at a consignment shop for ninety dollars.

I had paid in cash, and I had kept the receipt.

Roxie wore a black suit and a bow tie and looked like she was about to referee something.

"Remember," she said at the door. "Smile like you've already won."

"I haven't."

"That's why you smile."

Quincy was waiting at the foot of the staircase in a dark suit.

He did not come toward me.

He stood where I'd told him to, in plain sight, with his hands at his sides.

I walked the length of the lobby and stopped in front of him.

"You came," he said.

"I told you I would."

"I know. I didn't know if you'd take my arm."

"I'm not taking your arm."

His face didn't change, but something in his shoulders came down.

"I'm taking your hand," I said, "because they're all watching, and I want them to see who I walked in with."

His fingers closed around mine.

They were warm and a little rough, and I felt the grip all the way up to my elbow.

I did not look at him.

I didn't have to. I could feel him looking.

Inside, the ballroom turned.

Heads swung toward us from every table. The woman with the diamond choker whispered to the man beside her. Somebody said "VanHorne," and then somebody said, more quietly, "Bingham."

Brett's father stood at the center of a circle of men in dinner jackets.

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