Chapter 1 - The Good China
My Daughter Brought Her Fiancé to Sunday Dinner Before the Wedding – the Instant She Stepped Upstairs for Dessert, His Smile Vanished and He Whispered, 'I Did My Part of the Deal, Now It's Your Turn'
"Mom. Those are the good plates."
I looked down at the stack of china in my hands like I'd forgotten I was holding it.
"They are."
"We're having lasagna."
"I'm aware, sweetheart."
Delaney stood in the kitchen doorway with a dish towel over her shoulder, watching me the way you'd watch someone standing too close to the edge of a roof.
"Laney, your mother has been moving those same four plates around that table for twenty minutes," Dean said. His voice came out tinny and flat from my phone, which was lying face-up on the counter with the speaker on. "It's a whole ceremony. Let her have it."
I picked up the phone and held it close to my mouth. "You were supposed to be here for this."
"I know."
And he did sound wrecked about it, to be fair.
His company had sent him three states away to close out a job, and the one day it ran long was the one day that mattered — the night my daughter was bringing home the man she wanted to marry. Dean was four hours of highway away, and no amount of apologizing was going to shrink that number before the doorbell rang.
"I'll meet him tomorrow," he said. "Properly. Tie and everything."
Delaney checked the clock on the stove. "He'll be here in ten minutes."
Then her hand drifted up to her earring, turning it, testing it against her jaw.
"Is this too much? It feels like too much."
"It's not too much. You look beautiful."
May you like
She gave me a quick, thin smile. "Thanks, Mom."
The doorbell rang.
