A Happy Family Without Me novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: The Awards Dinner

The awards dinner was held in the ballroom of the lakeside hotel, under three chandeliers.

Two hundred people sat at round tables with white cloths, and a band played softly by the stage.

I stood in the open double doors in my dark blue dress.

Torsten stood a half step behind me in the only suit he owned.

"You can still sit down at table twelve," he said quietly.

"I will, in a minute."

"I'll sit with you."

"I know."

His hand rested on the small of my back, warm through the silk, and he didn't move it.

Nobody had noticed us yet.

From the doorway I could see all of it.

Table one stood at the front, close to the stage, with a gold card on its center.

Mr. & Mrs. Garner Waldegrave.

Lorna sat there in a green dress, one hand on her stomach.

She had put her hair up, and from across the room she looked radiant.

She was also the only person at the table not talking.

The tall gray man sat two tables over, with his glasses folded on the cloth.

He saw me, and he gave me one small nod.

A woman at the nearest table turned around and saw me too.

I knew her from the sales floor, from the week I put a bank statement on Garner's desk.

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