Chapter 2 - Put Down Your Phones
Emmett turned toward Claire so slowly that I could see the disbelief arriving.
“What is he talking about?”
Claire set down her fork.
“I have no idea.”
I lowered my glass.
“You told Margot she wasn’t the most important girl in her father’s life anymore.”
A chair scraped somewhere behind me.
Claire gave a short, breathless laugh.
“That is not what happened.”
“I heard you.”
“You heard part of a conversation.”
Margot’s hand closed around my sleeve.
I looked down and saw her staring at the faces turning toward us.
Across the room, somebody had lifted a phone.
My anger had carried me to my feet.
Her expression brought me back.
“Put the phones down,” I said.
“This child is not entertainment.”
Emmett was already moving.
He came around the table and crouched beside his daughter.
“Baby, what happened?”
Margot looked at Claire.
Then she looked at the floor.
“I stayed with Grandpa.”
“I know.”
“I wasn’t in the way.”
Emmett’s face changed.
Not dramatically.
Something simply went slack around his mouth.
Claire stood.
“She kept coming into the room while we were getting ready. There were curling irons everywhere. I asked her to give us some space.”
One of the bridesmaids, a woman named Nora, stopped folding her napkin.
I noticed because she had been folding it ever since I stood.
“That isn’t the part he means,” she said.
Claire turned sharply.
“Nora.”
“I was there.”
The room seemed to shrink around those four words.
Emmett lifted Margot into his arms.
“We’re going somewhere quiet.”
Claire reached for his elbow.
“We have guests.”
He looked at her hand until she removed it.
I followed him into the small sitting room off the hallway.
He sat with Margot against his chest and loosened his tie.
“You always belong with me,” he told her.
She touched the flower on his jacket.
“Even after today?”
He closed his eyes.
“Especially after today.”
I wanted that to fix it.
I wanted a father’s arms to erase a cruel sentence.
But Margot stayed stiff against him.
After a while, she slid down and asked for water.
I took her to the little table by the window.
Behind us, Emmett spoke without raising his voice.
“You heard her before the ceremony?”
I turned.
“Yes.”
May you like
He stared at me.
“Then why did you let me marry her without telling me?”
