“My God,” she said loudly. “Daniel, how did you manage to land someone that gorgeous? Do you still take her to McDonald’s for dates and drive her around in that old pickup truck of yours?”
Several people nearby laughed.
I felt Liam become completely still beside me.
I should have responded. I should have said something. But suddenly I was back in that hallway ten years earlier, holding a baby while Monica looked at me like I was something dirty beneath her shoe.
Then Susan reached for my hand.
She did it gently, yet there was nothing hesitant about it.
“Actually,” she said, smiling at Monica, “I’ve always found reliability attractive.”
Monica’s expression tightened.
Then Susan tilted her head slightly.
“Still performing, Monica?”
Monica’s smile disappeared for a moment.
And suddenly I realized Susan knew much more than she had admitted.
The ceremony took place in a garden behind the club. White chairs. String music. Far too many flowers. Liam sat beside me with his hands twisted together so tightly I could see the tension in his fingers.
Monica never looked at him during the vows.
Afterward, during photographs, Monica motioned him over.
“Come stand with me, sweetheart.”
Liam stayed where he was.
“You don’t call me that,” he said.
Her smile froze before returning for the cameras.
Dinner followed, and later the DJ announced that guests were welcome to give toasts.
Susan stood.
My stomach dropped.
We had never discussed this.
I lightly touched her wrist.
“What are you doing?”
She looked down at me.
“Something I should have done years ago.”
She walked toward the microphone.
The room turned toward her with the polite curiosity reserved for strangers at weddings.
She took a breath, and for the first time since I had met her, she appeared nervous.
“Before I toast the newlyweds, I’d like to say something about my husband.”
Monica smirked as if she already knew what was coming.
Susan rested one hand on the podium.
