Cancel the Wedding, Queen Moves On novel · Chapter 25 of 32

Chapter 25: The Restaurant

Pearl turned seventy-five on Friday, and she chose the restaurant herself.

It was a loud red-sauce place on Federal Hill with paper tablecloths and a waiter who called her "gorgeous" and meant it.

She wore her best sequin cardigan, the silver one, and a paper crown from the dessert tray that she refused to take off.

Bram sat on her right with a glass of water.

"You'll have the veal," Pearl told him. "A man who builds ships needs a calf."

"I build terminals."

"Eat the calf."

I was laughing into my wine when the room changed.

You can feel it when a table of men in good suits sits down near the back.

The waiter's whole posture shifts.

There were five of them, and a sixth chair at the head.

Preston sat in it.

He had a fresh haircut and a navy blazer, and he was smiling his warm, reasonable smile.

I recognized one of the older men from the Wexler Home Group lobby photographs.

"The old friend," Bram said, very low, without turning his head. "The one who called. The tall one on the left."

"The other four?"

"His partners. The bank's man is the one with the folder."

I watched Preston lift a glass.

"To stability," he said, clearly. "To a firm that has always been about family."

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