Chapter 3

“Four weeks ago?” I repeated.

Ethan looked away from the computer screen and met my eyes.

“Paige had just gotten confirmation that her divorce was final. I only asked the hotel if we could add a few guests. The activities were arranged later.”

“Was canceling our dinner just a question too?”

“I didn’t sign your name.” The answer came quickly. “You were the primary guest. The system probably filled it in automatically.”

I asked Lucy to pull up the change history.

She shook her head. The records included guest emails and internal notes, so only the manager on duty could release them. He wouldn’t be in until morning.

Ethan seized on that immediately.

“You heard her. No one knows what happened yet. Don’t accuse me of lying because of one form generated by the system.”

Applause sounded from the restaurant.

Paige’s cake had been wheeled inside, and the relatives were calling her name.

She stood near the entrance, her eyes still red.

“Can we please have dinner first? Everyone is waiting. Tomorrow morning, I’ll help you look into whatever you want.”

I could have left.

If I did, Ethan would describe the night as a grieving wife refusing to communicate.

I stayed because I wanted to hear the version of the story they had already created for me.

The seat at the head of the long table had been saved for Paige. Ethan sat to her right. My place was at the opposite end.

No one asked about my mother. No one mentioned the forged signature.

Ethan’s aunt Helen handed me a glass of water and quietly suggested that I avoid bringing up “anything upsetting” tonight.

Before the main course arrived, Paige stood and raised her glass.

“For the past few months, I thought I had lost everything. Ethan reminded me that family doesn’t leave when you need them most.”

She looked at him, then at me.

“Claire was willing to give me this weekend too. She had just finished handling everything for her mother, and she still found a way to think of someone else.”

Murmurs of approval moved around the table.

Helen smiled at me. “That’s what family does.”

“I didn’t give her this weekend.”

The smiles around the table disappeared.

Paige slowly lowered her glass.

“Ethan said you agreed to change the plans.”

I looked at my husband.

“Tell them when I agreed.”

Ethan wiped his hands on his napkin.

“We discussed the weekend when your mother was getting worse. You said you didn’t know if you could come and told me to handle the arrangements.”

“I said you could change our arrival time if the memorial conflicted with the trip.”

“You were under a lot of pressure. You might not remember your exact words.”

He turned to the others.

“I don’t want tonight to become an argument. Claire just lost her mother. Everyone should give her some space.”

He didn’t correct the story.

He used my grief to explain away everything I said.

I stood and left the restaurant.

My phone began vibrating the moment I stepped into the elevator.

In the Bennett family group chat, Helen told everyone not to upset me. Another relative wrote that grief could affect a person’s memory.

Then Paige posted a screenshot.

It showed a conversation between her and Ethan from four weeks earlier.

Paige had asked:

Is Claire really willing to give me your anniversary weekend?

Ethan had replied:

She agreed. I’m handling all the arrangements.