Chapter 2 - “YOU’RE EMBARRASSING ME”

For three seconds, nobody moved.

Then Claire laughed.

It was quick.

Nervous.

Fake.

“Okay,” she said. “Very funny.”

Daniel didn’t smile.

Her face changed.

“Daniel.”

He turned to Miguel.

“Are you okay?”

Miguel looked stunned.

“I’m fine, sir.”

“You’re not fine.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t.”

Claire stared at Daniel like he had started speaking another language.

“Oh my God. Are you serious right now?”

Daniel looked at her.

“Yes.”

“You’re making a scene.”

Ryan nearly choked.

Daniel slowly turned his head.

“I’m making a scene?”

Claire lowered her voice.

“You know what I mean.”

“No. Explain it.”

People had begun pretending not to stare.

It didn’t work.

Daniel could feel every eye in the room.

Claire grabbed his arm.

“Can we talk privately?”

He pulled his arm away.

Her mouth opened slightly.

Daniel almost never did that.

“Fine,” he said. “Let’s talk.”

They walked toward a small side room used by the wedding party.

Claire slammed the door behind them.

“What is wrong with you?”

Daniel stared at her.

She paced in front of him.

“My dress is ruined. That guy was careless. I got upset. Big deal.”

“You hit him.”

“Oh, please.”

“You slapped him.”

“It was a reaction.”

“He apologized.”

“He embarrassed me!”

Daniel looked at the dress.

Three tiny wet marks were already fading.

“Claire, your dress isn’t even stained.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Then what is?”

“The point is that today was supposed to be perfect.”

Daniel almost laughed.

Not because anything was funny.

Because the sentence sounded insane.

“Perfect?”

“Yes.”

“So when something imperfect happened, you slapped a stranger?”

Claire folded her arms.

“You’re twisting this.”

“No, I’m finally looking at it.”

She stared at him.

“What does that mean?”

Daniel didn’t answer immediately.

He was thinking about the restaurant in Chicago six months earlier.

The hostess who lost their reservation.

Claire had called her incompetent.

He was thinking about their housekeeper, Rosa, who had accidentally broken a wineglass.

Claire had taken the cost out of her Christmas bonus.

Daniel hadn’t known until weeks later.

He remembered arguing.

Claire had cried.

Then apologized.

Then promised it would never happen again.

He had believed her.

He thought about the valet outside a hotel in Miami.

The Uber driver in Boston.

The cashier in Connecticut.

Always little things.

Always someone she believed couldn’t fight back.

“You do this a lot,” Daniel said.

Claire went still.

“Do what?”

“This.”

“This what?”

“You pick people you think have less power than you, and you make them feel small.”

Her eyes hardened.

“That is not true.”

“It is.”

“You’re seriously taking the side of some waiter over your future wife?”

There it was again.

Some waiter.

Daniel’s stomach turned.

“He has a name.”

Claire looked confused.

“What?”

“His name is Miguel.”

“I don’t care what his name is.”

Daniel stared at her.

And something inside him went quiet.

Not angry.

Not confused.

Quiet.

Claire must have seen it, because her voice softened immediately.

“Baby.”

Daniel almost flinched.

She stepped closer.

“I’m stressed.”

He said nothing.

“I haven’t slept.”

Nothing.

“My mother has been driving me crazy for three weeks. The florist messed up. The photographer was late. My veil tore this morning.”

Still nothing.

Claire touched his chest.

“This is the biggest day of my life.”

Daniel looked down at her hand.

Then back at her.

“And that gives you permission to humiliate someone?”

She pulled her hand away.

“You’re being dramatic.”

“Maybe.”

He walked toward the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To talk to Miguel.”

“Daniel.”

He opened the door.

“Daniel!”

He stopped.

Claire’s voice dropped.

“If you walk out that door right now, you’re humiliating me in front of everyone.”

Daniel looked back.

For the first time all day, he understood exactly what she was saying.

Not I love you.

Not don’t leave me.

Not I’m sorry.

You’re humiliating me.

That was what mattered.

Her image.

Her perfect wedding.

Her audience.

Daniel stepped into the hall.

Then Claire said something behind him.

Something so quiet he almost missed it.

“If you ruin this wedding over him, you’ll regret it.”

Daniel turned.

Claire was no longer crying.

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