“Someone who can help.”
“Jess, the ceremony starts in less than an hour.”
“I know.”
“We could postpone. Or tell everyone what happened and go somewhere else.”
“No,” I said. “We’re getting married.”
He searched my face for answers I didn’t have time to give yet. So I finished getting ready, and thirty minutes later, I married Tristan exactly as planned.
The ceremony was beautiful. That still surprises me when I think back on it — the moment those church doors opened and I saw him waiting at the end of the aisle, terrified and relieved and completely in love, all the chaos just went quiet. For a few minutes, Linda and the missing reception simply didn’t exist.
Three Black Shuttle Buses
After the ceremony, confused guests started asking where the reception was. Linda stood off to the side in a pale blue dress, looking like someone who’d just won an argument nobody else knew they were having.
Then three black shuttle buses pulled up in front of the church, one after another.
Conversation around us died.
