***
The courtyard of the wedding venue smelled of roses and expensive perfume.
Three hundred guests fanned themselves in the golden evening light.
“Tomorrow is going to change everything for both of us,”
A string quartet played something soft and Italian.
I stood beside the flower arch with my clipboard, invisible in the way staff are meant to be invisible.
Vanessa hovered near the aisle, pearl-covered and furious.
“The sunset is too orange. It’s ruining the aesthetic. Can’t you do something about it?”
“It’ll shift in nine minutes,” I replied. “I checked the light table this morning.”
“Can’t you do something about it?”
“For your sake, it better.”
I smiled.
Six months of daily humiliation was about to end.
I could taste the final payment.
Then the groom’s limousine glided through the gates.
The announcer lifted his microphone. “Please welcome the groom, Adrian!”
The rear door opened.
