Borrow My Seat novel · Chapter 19 of 24

Chapter 19: The Toast

I filed on Friday at 9:02, with Tobias standing next to me, and the clerk said good luck without looking up.

On Saturday at seven I walked into the Water Street taproom in my navy blazer and my grandmother's ring.

Greta came in behind me with her coat open.

Tobias came last, and the doorman took one look at his face and stopped asking for names.

Sixty people stood under strings of yellow lights with plastic cups of orange soda.

Lane stood on a low stage at the end of the room, with a microphone and a nine-thousand-dollar watch.

A banner behind him said FRESH START.

Three men in good jackets stood near the front, with the stillness of people who had come with checkbooks.

Beside the bar stood a woman with a tablet and a lanyard that said Distributor.

In the back, a young man in a brewer's apron leaned against a stainless tank with his arms crossed.

Marjorie sat in the front row in her camel coat, pearls on, hands folded, looking at nobody.

Lane saw me before I'd taken three steps.

I watched his face run through every possible door and choose the one that looked best on camera.

"And there she is!" he said into the microphone, and spread his arms. "My wife!"

Sixty heads turned.

"You've all seen the news," Lane said warmly.

"A difficult time, and a very public misunderstanding."

"But Ingrid and I are working through it as adults."

"Ingrid, come up here. Say a few words."

I looked at Greta.

"Go," she said. "I'll watch the bar."

"Of course you will."

I walked up the center aisle between the cups and the stares, and Tobias stayed at the back where I'd told him to.

Lane held out the microphone.

I didn't take it.

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