I told myself it was a mistake.
Maybe there were two cards. Maybe mine was on the other side. Maybe the planner had put us next to each other, side by side, both mothers in the front row. That would be fine. I could sit next to Crystal for forty-five minutes. I could smile. I could do it for Hannah.
I checked the other chairs in the front row. Mark’s mother. Mark’s brother and his wife. Hannah’s grandmother on Crystal’s side. A man I didn’t know.
No Laura.
I checked the second row. Cousins. Aunts. A college roommate.
No Laura.
I kept walking. Third row. Fourth row. Fifth. My heels clicked on the old wooden floor. The farther
back I went, the louder they seemed.
My card was in the very last row. On the aisle. Right by the big double doors where the ushers would stand. Right where the cold air would blow in every time somebody came late.
