Chapter 5: The Brunch

The banner over the marina lodge door said BRITT + SHAY FOREVER in pink glitter.

Underneath it stood a ring light on a tripod, a mimosa tower, and a leather guestbook the size of a Bible.

"I counted forty-one women," Dolly murmured beside me. "And one tripod. I don't like the tripod."

"Stay close."

"I'm your plus-one. I'm eating all the bacon."

Inside, the chat was thick as fog, and half of it was made of people at the brunch.

【Helen: Oh, they have a photo wall! Aren't they sweet?】

【Pete: Two things on that table aren't food. A pen on a ribbon and a book. That's a hostage kit.】

【Sue: I'd like to note the tripod is pointing at the empty chair at the head of the table.】

The empty chair had a place card that said BRITT.

Shayla swept across the room in a white sundress with her arms open.

"You came," she said, and her eyes filled right on schedule. "Oh my God, you came. Everybody, Britta came."

Forty-one women turned and said "awww" in a ragged chorus.

I let her hug me, and I kept my arms at my sides.

"Sit, sit," she said. "I want to say something. I want to make this right."

I sat in the chair under the tripod.

The little red light blinked on.

Shayla stood beside me with a hand on my shoulder and her phone propped on a stack of napkins, live.

"Three years ago," she said, "a very hard thing happened between me and Britt. And I have never stopped being sorry."

Somebody sniffled.

Brock's mother, at the second table, put a hand on her chest.

"So I made us a little keepsake," Shayla said.

"Britt, sign the first page, and then everybody can add a note of love."

She opened the guestbook and slid it in front of me.

The first page had a printed paragraph on it in gold script, with a line at the bottom for my signature.

I read it very slowly, the way I read every contract that crosses my desk at work.

【Pete: She's reading it. Nobody reads it. Why is she reading it?】

【Sue: Because she's a banquet manager, Pete. She reads everything.】