Chapter 4: A Seat With a Back

Gregory's jacket opened in the middle of the photograph.

Celia stepped in front of him before the photographer could object.

"Just the women first," she said.

Pippa took my elbow and pulled me beside her.

The photographer lifted his camera again.

Celia moved me to the end of the line.

"You'll want to get changed for dinner," she told me.

"I'm already changed," I said.

I was wearing the green dress I'd bought for tonight.

Pippa put her arm around my waist.

"I like this one," she said to the photographer.

He took the picture before Celia could reorganize us.

I felt pleased and then annoyed at being so pleased.

I was her aunt, not an unexpected extra in the garden.

Miles waited beside the dining room door with his phone.

"Do you want to check the photograph?" he asked me.

"No," I said.

"I was there."

He put the phone away with a small smile.

Celia gave the photographer another set of instructions.

Gregory began easing toward the door.

The silver anniversary heart blocked his route.

He turned it sideways and trapped himself against a fern.

"Could somebody move this?" he asked.

Nobody did, because the photographer had asked everybody to stay still.

Finlay arrived carrying a stack of cream place cards.

Keep reading free with an account. Start They Called Me the Spare Aunt, I Brought a Date from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.