Chapter 20: The Grange Hall

The Grange hall had folding chairs, white ribbon, and a banner that said Welcome Home, Newlyweds.

I had paid for the ribbon.

I knew because I remembered the invoice, from before the canyon, for the wedding that was supposed to be mine.

It was a quarter to two when I came in through the side door, in the blue suit.

Rachel walked on my left, in a green dress.

Behind us came six nurses, the trombones, my old band director, and my aunt from Toledo, all carrying the cream cards.

Nobody had told them to come.

Rachel had called every number on the guest list on Friday night, and she had said one sentence: "Please come, and sit on his side."

The hall was almost full.

A hundred and forty people turned in their folding chairs and looked at me.

Someone on the bride's side said, "Oh my God."

A man in the third row stood up, then sat down again.

I walked down the center aisle.

I kept my hands loose.

I did not look for Carrie.

She had gone in an hour earlier with the caterers, in a borrowed apron, and she was wheeling a cart toward the stage.

At the front, under an arch of white roses, Brett stood in a gray suit.

His eye had gone yellow.

He was looking at the floor, and one hand was pressed flat against his ribs, over the wire.

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