Three, Two, One, I'm Gone novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Seventy-Five

Opal's seventy-fifth birthday party had a hundred and twenty guests and a string quartet.

I stood at the top of her staircase in a green dress I had bought that week with my own money.

My mother's brooch was pinned over my heart.

"You're staring," I said, without turning around.

"Yes," said Wade, one step below me in a dark suit.

"At the dress?"

"At the person in it."

"That isn't allowed. Terms."

"Nothing at the office and nothing in front of my grandmother," he said. "She's down there. I'm only looking at the stairs."

I laughed, and he offered me his arm, and I took it.

We went down together into the ballroom at the back of the house.

The guests turned to look, and a murmur followed us across the floor.

I knew what it was.

The sidewalk clip had been online for a week, with two million views and a caption that read *Wife books one seat while husband begs for her*.

Half the room had watched Paige's face go white, and the other half had heard about it.

Opal sat in a gold chair by the fireplace, in a silver dress, with her cane across her knees.

She took my hands in both of hers.

"You'll sit on my right," she said. "Wade, on my left. Don't argue."

"I wouldn't dare."

"You would," Opal said. "That's why I like you."

Three of Wade's cousins stood by the piano, watching me over their glasses.

One of them gave me a small, uncertain nod.

I nodded back.

At eight o'clock the front doors opened, and a man in a borrowed suit stepped inside.

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