Chapter 22: The Wedding

The Legion Hall at 2:50 on Saturday afternoon held thirty-one guests, a harpist, and a front-row chair with my name on it.

The card said RESERVED: B. SORENSEN in gold script, and it sat on seat one.

I sat in it.

Emmett took seat two, in a gray suit that had been in his truck for ten years, with his cap folded in his breast pocket.

"You look like a man at a funeral," I said.

"I'm at the best seat in the house."

Above the altar arch, the big projector screen glowed with a pink banner.

SHAYLA + BROCK LIVE LOVE WALL, it said, with a heart on either side.

Shayla had planned it herself, the way she planned everything.

The wall was supposed to show her followers' sweet comments in real time, across the whole front of the hall, for the cameras.

Behind me, thirty-one people were reading it and trying not to laugh.

【Pete: Locals Live Chat, now showing on the big screen at the Legion. I don't know who did this. I'd like to shake her hand.】

【Sue: *Whoever did this should be arrested, and then lauded.】

【Helen: Oh, it's us! Hi, everybody!】

I turned my head.

In the corner of the hall, a woman in a fanny pack sat on a folding chair in front of the AV closet.

She had a pecan pie on her knee.

She lifted two fingers to me, which was how Dolly waved.

Her master key swung from the strap of the fanny pack.

I had told her nothing.

I had only mentioned, over bacon, that a Legion screen would show anything with an HDMI port.

The cousin had quit at noon.

His text had gone into the vendors' thread, and I'd read it on the way over.

【Cousin: Out. Sorry, Shay. My mom saw the receipt.】

At three o'clock, the harpist began.

At 3:04, the doors at the back swung open, and Shayla came in on her father's arm.

She wore a white gown with a train, a veil, and the kind of smile you hold with both hands.

Her makeup was perfect, and her eyes went across the room and landed on me.

The harpist faltered.

Shayla reached the altar, where the minister waited, and the groom's spot was empty.

Mrs. Dettmer sat alone on the groom's side in the church coat, with her purse on her lap.

Their father had not come.

【Pete: 3:05. No groom. Wedding pool: Runs away 4 to 1.】

【Sue: *He is not "running away." He is "failing to arrive." There is a legal difference.】

The screen had picked up every word.

The room made a small, hot sound.

Shayla's head turned to the screen, and her smile didn't move.