Chapter 3 - The Country Club
The wedding was held at a country club outside the city — white stone columns, manicured hedges, the kind of place full of people who size up your worth within five seconds of a handshake.
I nearly turned the truck around right there in the parking lot.
Vivian touched my arm. "If you leave now, you'll be thinking about it for years."
Owen leaned forward between the front seats. "Let's just get it over with."
So we went in.
Danielle spotted us before we even reached the main hall. She stood near the entrance beside her fiancé and a cluster of relatives, already dressed for the ceremony, wearing that polished smile she used whenever she wanted something from a room. Then she saw Vivian.
Her smile shifted.
She came over, kissed the air near Owen's head without actually touching him, then turned her full attention to Vivian.
"My God," she said, loud enough for half the entrance to hear. "Daniel — sorry, Ben — 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?"
A few people nearby laughed. I felt Owen go completely still beside me.
I should have said something. Anything. But for a second I was right back in that hallway ten years earlier, holding a newborn while Danielle looked at me like something scraped off her shoe.
Then Vivian reached over and took my hand. Gentle, but nothing hesitant about it at all.
"Actually," she said, smiling straight at Danielle, "I've always found reliability attractive."
Danielle's expression tightened. Vivian tilted her head slightly. "Still performing, Danielle?"
May you like
Danielle's smile flickered and dropped for just a second.
And that's when I realized Vivian knew a lot more than she'd let on.
