“Why did you keep the picture?”
“Because the necklace she’s wearing in the picture is one I gave her.”
“I don’t understand,” I admitted. “She wore a necklace from you in her wedding to your brother.”
The waitress set two cups of coffee on the table, bursting our bubble of isolation. “Have you made your decisions?”
We hadn’t even looked at the menu.
I glanced around at the other diners. “I’m sorry. I haven’t looked. Do you have chicken salad?”
The waitress nodded. “Yeah. Do you want a sandwich or salad? The salad comes with fruit.”
“Salad.”
Van lifted the menu and laid it back down. “Chicken sandwich and chips.”
I busied myself with adding creamer to my coffee until the waitress was gone. Finally, I asked, “Why did you display the picture.”
“Because I’m a sick fuck.”
I laid my hand on his arm. “Van, I need answers. That isn’t an answer.”
“It is, Julia. I wasn’t invited to the wedding for obvious reasons, but I went anyway. Minutes before the ceremony, I went into Madison’s dressing room. I took the pearls she was wearing and gave her a diamond necklace. She thought I was Phillip, or at least at first she did.”
My hand fluttered near my throat. “You…he sent pearls up to my bedroom. He gave them to Vicki to give to me.”
Van’s face fell forward, his chin dropping to his chest before straightening his shoulders and neck. “It was a message. I’m fucking glad he didn’t deliver them himself.”
“I was upset.”
Van’s green stare focused on me. “You were?”
“Yes, I didn’t want to marry at my parents. I thought if I could just talk to you alone and if you’d listen, we could stop the whole thing. Instead, you…who I thought was you…sent a gift via my friend.”
“Where are the pearls?”
“I left them on the vanity counter in the bathroom.”
Van’s lips curled and his cheeks rose. “Because you were mad at me?”
“I thought I was.” I nodded toward the opening on Van’s other side. “I will take you up on your offer.”
As Van stood, he said, “Albert will follow.”
I reached for Van’s hand. “I know he’s following because of what’s happening. Just know, I won’t leave you, Van. I won’t disappear through some bathroom window.”
“Well, fuck. Now Michael needs to watch the windows from outside.”
Lifting myself up on my tiptoes, I kissed Van’s cheek. “Our conversation isn’t done.”
“Hurry back.”
When I returned, Van was staring down at his phone with a scowl. He looked up as I approached.
“What is upsetting?”
Van stood, letting me scoot into the booth beside him. As I settled in, he handed me his phone. My mouth opened as I read the headline.